Oliver Mintzlaff has been in charge of RB Leipzig since 2014. The managing director always strived for higher things and is now switching to the main sponsor of the club.
Three years after Ralf Rangnick, RB Leipzig loses the last defining face of its rise. Managing director Oliver Mintzlaff is leaving the club and switching to main sponsor Red Bull on November 15.
The 47-year-old, who came to the top of the then second division club in 2014, will be one of three new managing directors at the Austrian beverage company and will be responsible for all of the company’s sports investments, the club said.
“Oliver called me fairly early and told me,” said RB Leipzig coach Marco Rose on Friday. “It is the logical consequence of his work. The nice thing is that we know that we will remain in close contact and remain connected to Leipzig. It is a good decision and it will certainly continue in calm waters for all of us here.”
The cup winner would like to continue working with the existing structures. Mintzlaff will remain connected to the club, will sit on the supervisory board in the future and, thanks to his new function, will already have a deep insight into the processes. With the commitment of Max Eberl as the new Managing Director Sport, the company is well positioned on the sporting level. The former Gladbacher is supposed to start his job on December 15th, but may do so earlier due to the departure of Mintzlaff.
The change is not a surprise
According to information from “Bild”, Mintzlaff gets the post at the group at the request of the company’s founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, who died on October 22nd. The change is not a surprise. Mintzlaff has repeatedly indicated internally in the past that he does not see his future at RB Leipzig forever. It fits into the picture that Mintzlaff turned down an offer from Chelsea FC in the summer.
After Rangnick left in 2019, Mintzlaff also set the direction in the club’s sporting area. Nothing happened without his consent. At times, the former track and field athlete preferred going it alone when things weren’t going fast enough for him. The very close relationship with Rangnick broke up over the years, they did not part in harmony. Recently, however, the differences were cleared up and the duo appeared together again in a box. Before the game against Bayern Munich on January 20th, Rangnick is supposed to say goodbye – now there could be a double farewell.
Alongside Mateschitz’s son Mark and the Thai owner of Red Bull, Mintzlaff becomes one of three powerful men of the world-renowned brand. He is to be responsible for the company’s sports activities with investments in football, ice hockey, Formula 1 and sailing, among other things, as well as the TV station Servus-TV.
The future of RB Leipzig is secured even after Mateschitz’s death, as Mintzlaff recently emphasized. “I don’t expect or fear any changes in the support from Red Bull. We will continue what was built and developed here with the same passion and motivation in the future,” Mintzlaff told “Sport Bild” on Wednesday. His change to the lender was already certain.
Source: Stern
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