LEIPZIG, Germany : Austria manager Ralf Rangnick is already on home soil in Germany for Euro 2024, and when his side line up against Turkey in the round of 16 on Tuesday, he will find himself in very familiar surroundings at the Leipzig Stadium.Rangnick spent nine years as sporting director of RB Leipzig, with two spells as manager during that time, and was in charge when they achieved promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016.Rangnick's return is unexpected.
France and the Netherlands played out a 0-0 draw in Leipzig 10 days ago, and most experts had one of those sides pencilled in to come back as the winners of Group D to play their last-16 tie.Instead, Austria defeated the Dutch 3-2 and France were held to a 1-1 draw by Poland, bringing Rangnick back to the city where he had a major role in taking a new club from the lower leagues to the Bundesliga.RB Leipzig have plenty of critics, and nowhere more so than in the city of Leipzig itself.
Red Bull, already involved in football with Red Bull Salzburg in Austria, set their sights on Germany, and Leipzig was a perfect target.The city no longer had a Bundesliga club, and the clubs still surviving played in the lower leagues.It also had a new stadium, built for the 2006 World Cup, constructed within the massive bowl that was the Zentralstadion which opened in 1956, and could hold over 100,000 supporters in its heyday.Leipzig stadium is the only ground from the former East Germany hosting the Euros, and football in the city goes back much further than Red Bull's involvement.EAST GERMAN DECLINEThe German FA (DFB) was founded in Leipzig in 1900, with VfB Leipzig winning the first German league title, but East German football's decline since reunification had left the city without a