[spireitematt]

Bloody hell, Matt; now that`s knowledge above and beyond! (Matt`s not short for Matthäus, is it?

Haha thanks SGB and no it's not.

The reason I know this is because many years ago the Guardian newspaper did a feature on TSG Hoffenheim and their rise to the Bundesliga but I know the argument of the other teams in German football because I used to buy Four Four Two Magazine and they feature a lot of articles on German, Spanish and Italian football and they talked about RB Leipzig and talked about how they aren't particular liked and how certain teams in Germany aren't liked.

There is a famous club in Germany called St Pauli and they are a left wing (politically) club which are anti-racist, pro-LGBT and anti-fascist and they are very well liked by hipsters and left wing people.

I also watch a lot of Spanish 2nd division La Liga football on Youtube.

In Germany they have a rule called the 50+1 rule where clubs have to keep majority of its voting rights in order to compete in the Bundesliga. The whole thing is designed to make sure that club members have majority control of that club by a way of owning 50% shares plus 1% share which protects outside investors from having influence in the club. There is an exception though if a club has been funded and owned by a person or a company for 20 years plus then they can have a controlling stake in the club which is where Hoffenheim, Wolfsburg and Bayer Leverkusen come about and that's why they aren't particular liked by other fans of other clubs, that and also because they are seen not to have as many fans.

As for RB Leipzig they were originally called SSV Markranstädt and they played quite low down in the German pyramid and Red Bull bought the club and playing rights and changed the name to RasenBallsport Leipzig as the Bundesliga wouldn't allow the name 'Red Bull'. Red Bull own several football clubs and have done this with the New York Red Bulls, Red Bull Brasil and FC Red Bull Salzburg they used to be called SV Austria Salzburg until Red Bull bought the club and there is a link between RB Leipzig and FC Red Bull Salzburg. Fans of SV Austria Salzburg set the club up again down in the lower leagues of the Austrian football pyramid very similar to AFC Wimbledon or FC United of Manchester. Red Bull did nearly buy Leeds United a few years ago. It's all very similar to the City Football Group. It's football globalism.

By the way I had to google about Salzburg.