Electrified from Austria to Aarau: hot Salzburgerby between Austria and the ‘construct’ Red Bull

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

“Only Austria in Salzburg,” purple-white lettering flashes across Brügglifeld’s billboards during the cup match against Winterthur. And the Aarau Fan Curve congratulates SV Austria Salzburg on its 90th anniversary with a banner.

Strictly speaking, the club was only founded 13 years ago. After its predecessor of the same name was taken over by Red Bull. The clubs meet each other in the cup on Tuesday. With 4,100 spectators, the stadium will be sold out. The duel is exciting far beyond the national borders.

Fans founded the club after joining RB

In 2005, Red Bull joined first division club SV Austria Salzburg – and wanted to change everything, much to the annoyance of the fans. The Red Bull logo was incorporated into the coat of arms, the traditional purple and white was abolished and the founding year was also changed to 2005. Although the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) reversed the change in the founding year, the break was already a fact.

The SVAS was newly founded, stayed true to the old club colors and draws on Austria’s history, including three championship titles in the 1990s and a UEFA Cup final in 1994. Officially, these successes belong to RB Salzburg. While it was able to build on the infrastructure and membership of the league and in 2007 won the fourth championship title in the club’s history (now there are 17), the new Austria had to start again in the lowest division in the 2006/07 season.

In the Austria Stadium, RB is just “the construction”

In 2010, the fan-founded club reached the third highest division in Austria after four promotions in a row. In 2015 he switched to the second highest division and professional football. Then came the shock: Austria filed for bankruptcy and was relegated at the end of the season. The sport continued to plummet and another financial collapse was only avoided thanks to member donations.

Since this season, Austria has again been represented in the Austrian 3rd division – and leads it undefeated after nine games. The highlight match against the city rivals comes at just the right time. There is nothing about Red Bull in the preliminary reports on the club’s homepage. We are only talking about the ‘construction’. Red Bull runs football for other reasons, it is described, which led to the split at the time. “They erased our identity because they needed one of their own – to be recognized in the marketplace, to create a link with their group.”

Broad fan support for Austria

Austria does not want to stir up hatred with its attitude towards Red Bull, a club member explains on laola1.at. The point is to demonstrate ‘the rejection of this view of football’. They hope for a peaceful football festival, which will not only put RB in the picture “in terms of fan culture, but in terms of football culture in general”.

From a sporting point of view, you have to be careful not to be shown off by the Austrian former champion (since 2014). Austria is assured of fan support far beyond its borders. In the German Bundesliga (where RB Leipzig is constantly confronted with fan hatred), in Austria or in Aarau, fan curves showed their support for the purple and white. “In Salzburg only Austria.” Tradition since 1933. And thanks to Red Bull also since 2005.

Source : Blick