Due to sponsorship restrictions, the club is known as FC Salzburg and wears a modified crest when playing in FIFA and UEFA competitions.

Salzburg has dominated Austrian football over the recent past, winning 14 league titles in 17 seasons including 10 in a row from 2014 to 2023.

[5] Adolf Macek, who made the first of his four international appearances on 9 October 1965, was the club's first local player to earn a cap for Austria.

In 1974, Salzburg reached the Austrian Cup final for the first time, losing 2–1 away to Austria Wien in the first leg before a 1–1 home draw in the second.

[13] Salzburg's inaugural UEFA Champions League campaign in 1994–95 saw them reach the group stage by beating Israel's Maccabi Haifa 5–2 on aggregate.

The Violet-Whites ultimately formed a new club, Austria Salzburg after viewing Red Bull's offer to maintain the original colours only for the goalkeeper's socks at away games as an insult.

[19] In May 2006, Red Bull announced on their website that they had hired veteran Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni, together with his former player, German FIFA World Cup winner Lothar Matthäus, as co-trainers.

[24] Stevens was replaced by Dutchman Ricardo Moniz at the end of the 2010–11 season, in which Red Bull were denied a third consecutive title by Sturm Graz, who won the league by a three-point margin.

Moniz was ordered to integrate young players from the Junior squad: at the beginning of the 2011–12 season Daniel Offenbacher, Martin Hinteregger, Georg Teigl and Marco Meilinger were promoted to the first team.

In July 2012, Red Bull were knocked out of the Champions League in the second qualifying round against F91 Dudelange of Luxembourg, losing the first leg 1–0 away, followed by a 4–3 home win which saw the club eliminated on away goals.

At the end of the transfer period, new players were purchased: Valon Berisha, Kevin Kampl, Håvard Nielsen, Sadio Mané, Isaac Vorsah, and Rodnei.

In the UEFA Europa League, Salzburg reached the semi-finals in which they lost to Olympique de Marseille 2–3 on aggregate after extra time, having won during the campaign against Borussia Dortmund and Lazio.

[30] On 17 April 2024, Salzburg qualified for the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States following Arsenal's elimination from the 2023–24 UEFA Champions League.

[35] Over the next decade, Leipzig became the owners' main football project, and the close relationship between the teams was exemplified by the number of players moving between them (Georg Teigl, Marcel Sabitzer, Yordy Reyna and Stefan Ilsanker all transferred from Salzburg to Leipzig) with some of the Austrian fans becoming increasingly annoyed at their best players being signed by the 'step-sibling' club in their mission to climb through the levels of German football.

[39] Having finished as runners-up in their debut season in the German top flight, RB Leipzig gained entry to continental football for the first time, specifically the 2017–18 UEFA Champions League for which Red Bull Salzburg had also qualified as Austrian champions; this raised the issue of a possible conflict of interest between the clubs due to the level of influence exerted by Red Bull over both teams and the close sporting relationship between them in various aspects.

[40][34][41] After examining the operational structures during June 2017, UEFA declared themselves satisfied under their regulations that the two clubs (particularly Salzburg) were suitably independent from the Red Bull corporation, and sufficiently distinct from one another, for both to be admitted to their competitions.

[42][43] In the first season following that ruling, both reached the quarter-finals of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League but did not play each other, with RB Leipzig eliminated by Olympique de Marseille who then also knocked out Salzburg in the semi-finals.

[44][45] Salzburg were the victors in both fixtures between the clubs (3–2 in Germany, 1–0 in Austria)[46][47] and also won all their other matches to top the group, while Leipzig failed to progress after dropping further points against Celtic and Rosenborg.

[50][51] Red Bull Salzburg's name and crest have changed several times throughout the club's history as a result of mergers, sponsorships, and acquisitions.

Due to UEFA sponsorship regulations, "Red Bull" may not be present in the club's name or crest in international European competitions.