When RB Leipzig were promoted to Bundesliga in 2016, Red Bull GmbH co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz answered rumours he would add a Premier League club to the company portfolio. “Enormous stupidity,” he told Salzburger Nachrichten. “It would be wrong from a sporting perspective. To mix everything together would at one point also not be in accordance with UEFA regulations.”
As it was reaching the top of German football after exploiting loopholes to buy the playing rights and rename fifth-tier SSV Markranstädt, the drinks marketing firm was also finalising a two-year disengagement process from the Austrian side it had also rebranded, which would ultimately allow both its Leipzig and Salzburg constructs to play in Europe. Head of Global Soccer, Oliver Mintzlaff, was confident he had done his “homework regarding financial fair play” because Red Bull Salzburg now had “a different and completely independent set-up”.
Having satisfied UEFA’s Article 5, which prevents any individual or legal entity from control or influence over more than one participating club, the risks in repeating such an arduous legal task were not lost on Mateschitz in 2016. But what was unimaginable to him a decade ago is now a reality: Red Bull GmbH has a Premier League club, and it’s Leeds United.
The real obstacle was not regulations but, until his death in 2022, Mateschitz himself. The company’s genetic mutation under the new leadership of his heir Mark — plus three executives including Oliver Mintzlaff — prompted tweaks to the company’s strategy that enabled it to buy into both Leeds United and Paris FC.
As a global marketing company, Red Bull GmbH recognises the persuasive power of promotion. In the afterglow of reaching Brazil’s Serie A in 2020, Clube Atlético Bragantino were rebranded Red Bull Bragantino, and in 2024 Omiya Ardija became RasenBallsport Omiya Ardija upon rising to J2 in Japan, where sponsored club names are forbidden.
Leeds United and Paris FC also went up in their first seasons of Red Bull GmbH partnership, but because of its minority shareholding at both clubs in accordance with UEFA Article 5 — under increasing pressure with over 200 European clubs now involved in multi-club ownership (MCO) groups — it would be wrong to anticipate their imminent rebranding. Nevertheless, big changes that will not only define Leeds United’s future but also fundamentally alter what Leeds United is are already happening.
Exactly what makes Leeds ‘Leeds’ is increasingly hard to define
More than a sponsor, Red Bull GmbH’s deal grants it brand exposure on not just the shirts, but on the club itself. Dario Costa Gives Stuart Dallas Wings. Leeds United Visit Red Bull Racing at the British GP. Special Kit Change for Swansea City Match in Support of Wings for Life World Run. Players Take on Oracle Red Bull Racing F1 Car in Drag Race at Elland Road. The integration of an external brand into Leeds United’s visual culture is on a scale fans have never seen before, with cartoon Red Bull can cameos in Leeds’ social media graphics and players frequently photographed with the real thing. Red Bull UK even co-opted Marching on Together and rendered Elland Road in the company’s animation house style on Instagram, while a GIVES YOU WIIIINGS gif watermarks every single league game on LUTV.
What this torrent of logos, adverts, stunts, endorsements and product placements shows is they can in fact Red Bullify a club within regulations without renaming or controlling it — if they have a willing partner. And boy is Paraag Marathe willing, saying the club’s co-owners are, “going to continue to be great partners in the same way that they have been.”
But what does that mean? It’s easy to see what’s in this for Red Bull GmbH but less so for Leeds. Apart from the money of course, the main benefits lie with 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group. In a previous article, Closer to the Truth, I wrote in February 2024 how with Red Bull GmbH’s help they were preparing for MCO and reports soon revealed they were leading a consortium to take control of Glasgow Rangers.
Announcing the deal in June, just as when Red Bull GmbH first arrived at Elland Road, Marathe was quick to shut down talk of influence or conflicts of interest. “Consider them both closed-loop universes,” he said, in similar terms to the “Red Bull cosmos” way Jürgen Klopp speaks in his role as Head of Global Soccer. “It would be a disservice to Leeds and Rangers to consider one a feeder club to the other.”
As chairman of the former and vice-chairman of the latter he has to say this, not only to address fans’ legitimate concerns about the inherent hierarchies in MCO structures, but also the ownership regulations covering English, Scottish and European football. Red Bull GmbH, who can neither influence Leeds nor own Red Bull Salzburg so that its flagship RB Leipzig may qualify for Europe, know that in an MCO it’s often legally prudent to define things by what they aren’t rather than what they are. “It’s not a secret. It’s not rocket science what we are doing,” said Red Bull technical director Mario Gómez. “That’s a discussion we’re having with [Leeds]. I was telling the guys, it’s super important to have a clear identity.”
Simultaneously in two MCO groups and yet also apparently in none, exactly what makes Leeds ‘Leeds’ is increasingly hard to define. Is it the new stands or the old badges? Cult retro is in vogue as football seeks to show fans it agrees that clubs are more than just brands, but nostalgia has added meaning in times of great change. The 49ers Enterprises era is as synonymous with complex plans as it is with symbols of simpler times to reassure us that everything will be just as it always was. The thing is, it won’t, and with the logo of a firm that’s rebranded clubs on four continents looming it all looks so inauthentic, like the club is also trying to reassure itself.
A little over a year after Phil Hay remarked Leeds were “England’s last big, old-school club”, it returns to the Premier League as sportswashed as anyone, not by a nation state but by an energy drink. Red Bull GmbH’s partnership with 49ers Enterprises is not through a shared love of Leeds, but a shared desire to expand. Part of a marketing and distribution strategy driving UK sales growth, they’re in LS11 for the same reason you see more Red Bull products than ever on supermarket shelves. With more TV games in more countries with more exposure to more viewers than ever before, there was only ever going to be more Red Bull. They have successfully redefined what a “Red Bull club” is, and the cost to Leeds is not yet the club’s identity, but its authenticity.
The Premier League represents utopia for owners and investors, but we fans have responsibilities beyond merely consuming and relaying their words, especially when their actions so clearly warrant scrutiny. Do Red Bull GmbH have a role in an established 49ers Enterprises Global Football Group? What is Leeds’ relationship with Red Bull clubs in Germany, Austria, America, Brazil, Japan and France? What happens should UEFA Article 5 no longer limit Red Bull GmbH’s Leeds shareholding and allow them decisive influence?
We cannot rely on regulators, not even the new The Football Governance Act, for we know how routinely the club’s co-owner works around them. We should wonder not only how they might behave in the future but also be honest about what’s right in front of us, no matter how much of their money is deemed necessary to compete. Otherwise, that’s how identities erode.
While a trophy won under a badge from the 1970s was being cheered through the streets of Leeds in May, a promotional Red Bull Mini Cooper was being booed by the crowd. There’s hope for us yet. ⬢
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