Story By: Koen Berghuis, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz has made an unusual bet for a beer with Bayern Munich President Uli Hoeness saying that his RB Leipzig will become German champions in the next three years.
Austrian national Mateschitz became one of the richest men in the world after he founded energy drink company Red Bull GmbH with his Thai business partners after discovering the sweet drink on one of his travels.
It made Mateschitz a multi-billionaire with an estimated net worth of 19.5 billion USD (15.5 billion GBP) as of June this year.
Picture Credit: Golders
Mateschitz, who lives a secretive life and shuns the world media, is, however, active in sports where he sponsors the Red Bull Formula 1 team, a variety of extreme sports, as well as football clubs Red Bull Salzburg and RB Leipzig.
In a rare interview with Austrian local media, Mateschitz said that he thinks that RB Leipzig will become champions of Germany in the next three years.
Since Mateschitz started with RB Leipzig, which is officially called RasenBallsport Leipzig (Lawn Ball Sports Leipzig) as the German FA forbids commercial club names, and the club has made a remarkable rise from the lower leagues in the state of Saxony to the upper reaches of the Bundesliga, where they finished in third place last season, qualifying for the Champions League.
Picture Credit: Golders
Mateschitz said that he made an unusual bet with Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness that RB Leipzig would beat the Bavarian giants in the next three seasons to clinch their first Bundesliga title.
The two men reportedly did not wage a fortune on the bet but decided that the loser would pay the other one a beer.
Mateschitz has lower expectations for his other club, Red Bull Salzburg, who won the Austrian Championship last season and qualified directly for the Champions League group face.
He said: “If we reach third place and can continue in the Europe League it would be perfect.”
If Hoeness loses the bet to Mateschitz it would also not break the bank account to buy a beer to pay off the bet.
Hoeness, a butcher’s son who had a successful professional football career himself playing for Bayern Munich and the West German national side, is famous for starting a successful sausage company which sells its products to Aldi and McDonald’s among others
However, he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for tax evasion in 2014 after admitting in court he evaded 28.5 million EUR (25.6 million GBP) in taxes on investment income.
After his release from prison Hoeness was reelected as Bayern Munich president and on 1st May this year he celebrated working 40 years in different roles in Bayern Munich’s management.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
