The New Bull in Town: Analyzing Lokomotive Leipzig’s Ambition | OneFootball

Despite RB Leipzig’s 3-2 home loss to VfB Stuttgart at the Red Bull Arena, all eyes were turned to Freiburg’s game against Eintracht Frankfurt at the end of the game. However, that vague hope that results elsewhere could still lead to a European finish was soon dashed.

The game, which Julian Schuster’s side had dominated and led 1-0 with only seconds to go at half time, was finally put to bed with a late strike by the thirty-year-old Tunisia international striker Ellyes Skhiri.

Officially RasenBallsport Leipzig, managed by former Bayern Munich assistant manager Zsolt Löw, finished this season in seventh place behind Mainz 05, who more than deserve their Conference League place, in the season ahead.

RB Leipzig missed out on European competition for the first time since 16/17. Fans of Die Rote Bullen, as RB is known, will be heavily disappointed, but not everyone shares their sentiment across the league, particularly on the other side of town.

The champagne is on ice in Probstheida, in the South-East of the country’s eighth most populated city and home to one of RB’s local rivals, 1. FC Lok Leipzig. With a 4-2 away on at Rot-Weiss Erfurt on the final match day of the season, the 3-time East German Cup winners Lok are Meister in the Regionalliga Nord-Ost, the fourth tier division representing the North-East.

The German fourth tier is divided into five regions, each season, on a rotating basis. Two of the regional champions have to take part in a two-legged playoff for a place in the third tier, 3. Liga. So for Lok, this year’s play-off represents the opportunity to make the first return to the professional game since relegation from the third tier in 2000.

Securing the title only qualifies the yellow and blues for a playoff against North German club TSV Havelse, the winners of the Nord, Northern division. Nevertheless, the thought of a historic club like Lok back in professional football leaves many neutral, but traditionalist, fans enthralled.

The German football association, DFB, were founded in Leipzig in 1900, finally, a successful Traditionsverein in Leipzig: a historic club with strong local roots, that both in spirit and defacto adheres to the 50+1 rule, a regulation introduced by the governing body of the first and second tiers, the DFL in 1998 that ensures majority member ownership, is back on the horizon.

In a football pyramid with only three majority corporate-owned clubs, Leipzig, Wolfsburg, and Leverkusen, history is written large. RB Leipzig, who are still widely regarded as an Emporkömmling, a humorous word reserved for the newly rich who have little culture or dignity, are at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to the other Traditionsvereine.

RB Leipzig were founded as recently as 2009, when the energy drink company bought the playing rights of a fifth-tier club, SSV Markranstädt. In spite of their achievements on the pitch – including winning the DFB Pokal twice in four years – the red and whites have a limited following in the city and remain largely unpopular with fans outside Leipzig.

The 50+1 regulation remains sacrosanct among German fans. In spite of the improved financial position that Premier League clubs have gained in European competition from record investment in English clubs, including from multi-national corporations, most fans in Germany would rather see their stake as members and the influence that entails remain intact, even if the sides are less competitive.

RB officially adhere to the regulation but only on paper; in reality, the club have 17 members, all of whom are closely connected to the holding company, and membership is effectively closed to others, including the community. A stark contrast to Borussia Dortmund with its 218,000, or Bayern with its 360,000 members, both of which feature in the top 5 by size worldwide.

In terms of historic clubs, the Eastern side of unified Germany is represented only by Union Berlin, 1. FC Magdeburg, and now Dynamo Dresden, in the top two tiers. Most neutrals want that to change, and that can only happen if more clubs from the former German Democratic Republic are promoted.

Founded in 1893 and then known as VfB Leipzig, Lokomotive won the Deutsche Meister title in 1903, 1906, and 1913 and the Tschammer Pokal, the pre-war DFB Pokal, in 1936. On most fronts, the club tick all the Traditionsverein boxes. It has a reported base of 5,000 mostly locally based members, and it has a rich and vivid history.

After the partition of Germany into East and West in 1949, Lok won the East German national cup, the FDGB Pokal, three times between 1975 and 87. 1986/87 also saw them in the final of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, losing out 1-0 to an Ajax team captained by Marco van Basten, which included Dennis Bergkamp, in front of 35,000 in the Athens Olympic stadium.

After the reunification of Germany in 1990, now renamed 1. FC Lok Leipzig and affectionately known to fans as ‘Loksche’, the club achieved its high point in 1993/4. That season it qualified for the Bundesliga, but remained for only one season, finishing last.

Among the notable former players are legendary East Germany international keeper René Müller, former Manchester City striker Uwe Rösler, and Marco Rose in his playing days. VfL Bochum coach Dieter Hecking and former Nottingham Forest and England striker Tony Woodcock, who managed the club in a second-tier season in which they finished 13th, have both managed the club.

As far as Lok fans are concerned, RB hardly feature, the real local derby is between them and the third Leipzig club, 1995 Regionalliga Nord-Ost champions Chemie Leipzig. The rivalry is both fierce and feared, and goes back to the top tier in the former East Germany, the Oberliga.

Currently managed by former Schalke midfielder Jochen Seitz, Lok currently compete with a squad of journeyman, and just four foreign-born players, including one international, Benin winger Ryan Adigo. With a squad value of just €2.1m (Transfermarket) – less than half that of Alemannia Aachen, who have the lowest in the third tier – they will need substantial investment to be competitive if they are promoted.

In spite of the presence of a club with almost unlimited backing in the form of RB, the foundations are getting stronger for Lok. They have a strong and loyal following. The 6,000 average turnout achieved this season is higher than seven sides in the 3 Liga. The hunger for professional football in the South-East corner of the city is great.

For now, Leipzig’s second club have only one foot back in professional football: the promotion playoffs take place on 28 May in Leipzig, and 1 June away at TSV Havelse’s Wilhelm Langrehr Stadion.