Back in summer 2015, a ten-year-old Valentin Sulzbacher arrived for the first time in the Red Bull Football Academy. Some ten years later, in April 2025, the midfielder made his debut for our Red Bulls – in the Bundesliga starting XI, no less!

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How did that come about? With a determined and patient number of years on the Salzburg Way. He went through all the age groups at the academy, collected four ÖFB Youth Titles (3x U18 and 1x U16) and continued to develop at FC Liefering. He made his #LigaZwa debut in 2022, has been a regular part of the team since summer 2023 and has gained plenty of experience already in full professional football.

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Any fans who have followed our UEFA Youth League encounters will know just what a key part Valentin Sulzbacher has been this season in our Young Bulls' successes – captaining the side in the last 16 against Atletico while also scoring the winning goal, for instance.

It was a fantastic day for me! To play my first match here in the stadium and then to win makes me really happy. The week went relatively quickly, and I only found out on Wednesday that I could train with the team. I got a really good feeling right away and was able to quickly find my way in.

Valentin Sulzbacher

On his debut for our Red Bulls in the ADMIRAL Bundesliga, our own talent (who had never previously been in a squad) started and did exactly what the coaches had hoped of him - putting in a highly motivated but also calm, flawless performance with plenty of confidence in the centre of the pitch alongside our captain, Mads Bidstrup.

We decided to select him as he has played a lot in that position in recent weeks and had done well - I think he showed we made the right choice. He didn't play a single stray pass in the 90 minutes, I think, and even had a good chance with a header - he absolutely fulfilled all our expectations!

Thomas Letsch

The most important aspect of his debut was that we took a home win against Blau-Weiß Linz! The media asked the midfielder after the match how he expects to see things progress from here. Valentin Sulzbacher was clear that he is taking one step at a time and wants to enjoy the moment. Part of the 20-year-old's plan for that included celebrating the special day in the way he likes best "watching football and seeing the evening out in a relaxed way."

This is Valentin Sulzbacher