FC RED BULL SALZBURG

League: Austrian Bundesliga
City: Salzburg, Austria

Founded: 1933

League Champs: '94, '95, '97, '07

Red Bull Salzburg was founded in 1933 under the name of SV Austria Salzburg. The club changed ownership and names in 1978 (SV Casino Salzburg) and in 1997 (SV Wustenrot Salzburg) before finally being bought and reshaped by the Red Bull Energy company.

This pairing made sense for the growing beverage company. The drink Red Bull, based on an Asian formula known as "Krating Daeng", became popular and an international force under the direction of Austrian entrepreneur Dietrich Mateschitz. With his company based in Salzburg, Mateschitz and Red Bull bought the team in 2005 and immediately changed the teams image.

The club took a lot of heat in its early Red Bull existence because of the lack of recognition for its past and for being overly "corporate". The team management claims the team was formed in 2005 and that SV Austria Salzburg is not the same organization. Along with a failure to believe in its own past, the organization has pulled very questionable marketing stunts including trying to force their goalie to be introduced before games wearing wings and being hoisted above the pitch to prove that "Red Bull gives you wings." Luckily, this was not allowed to happen.

The current squad, coached by Dutch manager Jacobson Adriaanse, includes many current and past international players including Ronald Gërçaliu (Austria), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Japan), and Johan Vonlanthen (Switzerland).

Last season the German Alexander Zickler led the team with 16 goals and 7 assists but failed to help his team move past the first round of UEFA Cup 07-08. The team did place second in the Bundesliga in a season following a Austrain National Championship. They have had recent success and beat British Premier League power Arsenal in Salzburg in May 2008.