- Purchased by Red Bull in 2009 with the mission of climbing from the fifth tier to the first tier of German football within eight years
- RB Leipzig is among the three unbeaten teams in Europe’s top five leagues including Real Madrid and Hoffenheim
- From fourth tier league in 2012/13 to top of first tier in 2016/17
- Has the longest winning run in Europe’s top five leagues: 7 games
- Considered the most hated team in Germany
RasenBallsport Leipzig commonly known and referred to as RB Leipzig is a team in the German Bundesliga.
The season’s wonder so far in the league was founded in 2009 by energy drink maker Red Bull.
Red Bull purchased the right of fifth division side SSV Markranstädt and renamed it RasenBallsport Leipzig.
RB Leipzig became the fifth team to be purchased by Red Bull which includes Red Bull Salsburg in Austria, New york Red Bulls in U. S, Red Bull Brazil in Brazil and Red Bull Ghana in Ghana.
Although, other teams owned by Red Bull has the name incorporated into their name, but German League rules would not permit that.
So, Red Bull adopted the unusual name “RasenBallsport”, meaning “Lawn Ball Sports” so as to derive the Red Bull initials, RB.
Where it all started
RB Leipzig played its first match on 10th July 2009 against SV Bannewitz and ended with a 5-0 win for Leipzig.
In their first league season, the 2009/2010 in the Oberliga Sud, Leipzig won 26, draw 2 and lost two of their matches to float atop the table and got promoted to the Regionalliga Nord.
RB Leipzig could not move from the Regionalliga Nord in their first attempt 1n 2010/11, they only managed a fourth placed finish with 18 wins, 10 draws and 6 losses.
In the 2011/12 season, they got stuck in 3rd place with 22 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses, so, they missed out on promotion again.
Leipzig did their homework well in the 2012/13 season and got promoted with an astonishing 72 points in 30 games that includes 21 wins, 9 draws and no loss.
The 2012/13 season was in another division as the Regionalliga Nord was expanded to 5 divisions, Leipzig belonged to the Regionalliga Nordost, where they were champions.
In the 2013/14 season, Leipzig played in the 3. Liga, and were promoted at the end of the season. With 79 points, they were second in the league with 24 games won, 7 drawn and 7 lost.
2014/15 was one of Leipzig’s worst seasons. With 13 wins, 11 draws and 10 losses, they only managed to gather 50 points and also missed out on promotion in their first attempt.
Leipzig bounced back in the 2015/16 season with 20 wins, 7 draws and 7 losses, they were promoted to Germany’s Premier competition, the Bundesliga, achieving their mission of getting to the first tier league in 8 years.
Mission Accomplished
As a newly promoted side, Leipzig were expected to struggle in the Bundesliga, but, they have hit the ground running, giving Bayern Munich and other German heavyweights a run for their money.
With 30 points, 27 goals scored and 10 conceded so far this season, Leipzig are unexpectedly and surprisingly on top of the Bundesliga table after 12 games, 3 points more than Bayern Munich.
The mission was to get to the Bundesliga in 8 years, now, they are dominating the Bundesliga.
It remains to be seen at the end of the season if they can hold on to the top spot and make history just like Leicester City in the English Premier League last season, but, this will be a better fairytale than Leicester’s, maybe, the greatest fairytale in football.
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Author: Eniola Rodriguez (soccergenic.com)
