RB Leipzig’s international push continues after successful US tour: Interview with Johann Plenge

Bundesliga club RB Leipzig continues to focus on prioritizing internationalization as part of its strategy. Building off this past summer’s successful U.S. tour where the club played matches against Aston Villa and Wolves in New Jersey and Florida, the United States remains a priority for RB Leipzig as it expands its appeal to both fans and commercial partners.

World Soccer Talk recently sat down with RB Leipzig Managing Director Johann Plenge to ask about the club’s growth as well as future ambitions.

World Soccer Talk: Is there any frustration that the Bundesliga isn’t as big as it should be? I mean, it’s “football as it’s meant to be” with some of the best stadium atmospheres, some of the biggest attendances, good football on the pitch, and a well-produced product on television. Is there any frustration that it’s not as popular or more popular than it is currently?

Johann Plenge: “Not at all. I would say it’s the opposite. It’s even driving our ambition to grow, not just as a club but as a league. You can see that the Premier League has done an amazing job in the past 20 years. La Liga did a great job in the past 10 years, and now it’s our driver to also develop because we as a Bundesliga have a good product. 

“We do have strong brands and we try to work beside Borussia Dortmund, Leverkusen, and Frankfurt to have a strong competition, and we are not frustrated at all. But we just push the Bundesliga, and the Bundesliga pushes the clubs to do more. 

“And I’m 100 percent convinced that if we go further with this direction, like us being in the U.S. last year, Frankfurt was there last summer, and if we do more of this, we will probably not be able to actually close the gap, but minimize the gap each and every year, and then become smaller and smaller, and then in 10 years, we’ll see where we are then but I would say frustration is not the right word.”

World Soccer Talk: As a follow-up to that, do you have a personal ambition for RB Leipzig? In terms of being in the top 10 or 20 clubs in the world, whether that’s on the pitch or off it?

Johann Plenge: “In the Bundesliga, we clearly have the ambition to be the top challenger of Bayern Munich. This is what we want to do. This is what we have been working on. So that’s our domestic ambition, and we want to win titles. If you start winning titles like [the DFB-Pokal trophies] we did in 2022 and 2023, we want more of them. 

“Internationally, on the pitch, we want to establish ourselves in the top 10 of Europe. If you have a look at the past five years and you look at the European coefficient, we are in 9th place due to the poor Champions League performance in the past four matches. Obviously, we have to try hard and finally get our Champions League points in the upcoming matches to be successful in this but becoming established as a top European club is something that we want to go for. 

“Off the pitch, economically when it comes to revenue and etcetera, I think it’ll take a bit longer due to the different revenue streams other clubs have that we don’t have yet here, but we are also working on that. And we made some great steps [recently] for the future. We [increased] our sponsorships, For example, when we changed from Nike to Puma this season, this was a huge step. BMW (and Mini), as a car manufacturer, so there are more big brands coming in, but it’s something that will take some time. 

“But also, you have to keep in mind that if you compare a Bundesliga club’s revenue to a Premier League club, for example, we want to be limited in some revenue spaces. So, matchday revenue, for example. In Germany, it’s not about [charging] the highest price in the stadium, it’s about finding the sweet spot between generating revenues and, on the other hand, it’s important to be affordable for everyone.”

However, RB Leipzig’s current form is a concern for fans

As recently as the weekend of October 25-27, RB Leipzig was joint top with Bayern Munich, separated only by goal difference. But the club’s league results in November have been dreadful, losing to Borussia Dortmund and Hoffenheim as well as a goalless draw in a match against Borussia Monchengladbach where RB was fortunate to come away with a point. 

To make matters worse, RB Leipzig lost in the UEFA Champions League to Celtic in early November, meaning that the German club hasn’t won a single UEFA game this season. That has pushed the club further down UEFA’s new-fangled table to near the very bottom.

With its winless streak of three Bundesliga matches, RB Leipzig has fallen to third in the table while Bayern Munich remains undefeated this season. Yes, injuries to key players such as David Raum and Xavi Simons have been part of the reason why RB Leipzig has stumbled. Nevertheless, the team in recent weeks has been a shadow of itself compared to last season when Leipzig finished the season strong. For a club that has such grand aspirations, the pressure is mounting on head coach Mario Rose to fix the decline.

Winning games and growing the club’s reach worldwide go hand in hand. It’s imperative that a club has success on the pitch in order to expand globally. While the past four winless matches have been a blip for RB Leipzig, the slump mustn’t continue.

In our interview with RB Leipzig, Plenge mentioned the club has a clear ambition to be a top challenger to Bayern Munich. With RB Leipzig eight points behind Bayern after eleven matches this season, the current league form isn’t good enough. Surely, the board of directors at Leipzig will decide soon if Marco Rose is the coach to continue moving forward. And if so, whether Rose will need some new signings in the January transfer window to give a boost to the squad.

Getting the winning formula both on and off the pitch at the same time is extremely difficult. Just ask Manchester United. However, we’re confident that RB Leipzig will make the best decisions in the next few months to ensure the club is competing at the highest level.

Photo: IMAGO / motivio