Founded in 1933 as SV Austria Salzburg, the club originally adopted a purple crest that reflected both the city of Salzburg and the club's traditional colours. Early versions featured a stylised castle and the initials “AS”, symbolising the club's strong local identity. During the following decades, the crest was simplified into a modern purple emblem while maintaining the club's distinctive violet colour scheme.
In 1994, the club became SV Casino Salzburg following a sponsorship agreement with Casino Salzburg. A completely new circular crest was introduced, featuring the silhouette of a footballer in a purple shirt alongside a football. Three years later, another sponsorship change saw the club renamed SV Wüstenrot Salzburg. Although the footballer design remained, the shirt colour was changed to blue and the sponsor's name replaced Casino Salzburg on the badge.
A dramatic transformation came in 2005 when Red Bull GmbH purchased the club. The traditional purple identity was abandoned in favour of the globally recognised Red Bull branding. A new crest featuring the iconic two red bulls charging beneath a football replaced the historic designs, while the club colours changed from violet to red, white and yellow. This marked the beginning of a new era, with the club rebranded as FC Red Bull Salzburg.
The crest received a refined redesign in 2007, adopting a larger shield shape with cleaner lines while retaining the familiar Red Bull logo. This version became closely associated with the club's domestic dominance, during which Salzburg established itself as Austria's most successful team of the modern era.
In 2019, the badge was updated once again with the addition of a gold star above the crest, recognising the club's sustained success in Austrian football. While the overall design remained largely unchanged, the star highlighted Red Bull Salzburg's achievements and continues to feature on the club's current crest.
FC Red Bull Salzburg Club History
Founded in 1933 as SV Austria Salzburg, Red Bull Salzburg is one of Austria's most successful football clubs. Based in the city of Salzburg, the club spent much of its early history developing into a competitive force in Austrian football while playing in its traditional violet colours, earning a loyal local following.
The club enjoyed its first golden era during the 1990s. Under coach Otto Barić, then known as SV Casino Salzburg, the club won its first Austrian Bundesliga title in 1994 and reached the UEFA Cup Final, defeating Sporting CP, Eintracht Frankfurt and Karlsruher SC before finishing as runners-up to Inter Milan. Salzburg successfully defended the league title in 1995 and won another championship in 1997, by then competing as SV Wüstenrot Salzburg, establishing itself among Austria's elite clubs.
A defining moment in the club's history came in 2005, when Red Bull GmbH purchased the club. The takeover brought a complete rebranding, with the club renamed FC Red Bull Salzburg, its traditional violet colours replaced by red, white and yellow, and a new crest based on the Red Bull corporate identity. While the changes proved controversial among many supporters, they also marked the beginning of an era of unprecedented domestic success supported by major investment in infrastructure, coaching and player development.
Since the takeover, Red Bull Salzburg has dominated Austrian football, winning numerous Austrian Bundesliga and Austrian Cup titles while consistently qualifying for European competitions. The club has become renowned for its modern football philosophy, high-intensity attacking style and one of Europe's finest talent development systems. Players including Sadio Mané, Naby Keïta, Erling Haaland, Dominik Szoboszlai, Karim Adeyemi, Benjamin Šeško and Jude Bellingham's former teammate Oscar Gloukh have either developed or significantly enhanced their careers in Salzburg before securing transfers to Europe's biggest leagues.
Red Bull Salzburg has also become a regular participant in the UEFA Champions League, recording memorable victories against some of Europe's leading clubs and reaching the knockout stages in the 2021–22 season for the first time under the modern Champions League format. The club's reputation for identifying and developing young talent has made it one of the most respected development clubs in world football.
Red Bull Salzburg's principal domestic rivalries are with Rapid Wien, Austria Wien, and Sturm Graz, with recent title races against Sturm developing into one of the Austrian Bundesliga's fiercest modern rivalries. The club also maintains a unique historical rivalry with Austria Salzburg, the phoenix club founded by supporters in 2005 to preserve the original violet identity following the Red Bull takeover.
