They were in Bundesliga 2 back then and Die Eisernen clearly saw the leadership qualities of their right-back early on, but it was not until 2018 that he took the captaincy full-time. Since joining the club in 2014, Trimmel has elevated himself to legendary status at Union and he even wore the armband during his first season with the team, albeit sporadically. Peter Gulacsi has kept goal for RB Leipzig since 2015 and captained the side since 2022. His return from a cruciate ligament injury that kept him out of most of 2022/23 will be a welcome boost at the Red Bull Arena.

A natural leader, Gulacsi said in 2022: 'A good captain always leads by example'. Not only has he kept 68 clean sheets in Germany's top-flight, Gulacsi has also supported LGBTQ+ rights in his homeland and he made headlines in 2020 by donating his national team bonus to a young Hungarian child named Zsombor, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and was in need of one of the most expensive drugs in the world to aid his treatment. Heading into the new season, only Yussuf Poulsen (358) has played more games for the club than Gulacsi (284) and the Hungarian has proven to be a leader both on and off the pitch.

Gulacsi is another of the league's goalkeepers to shoulder the added responsibility of being their team's captain - and you can see why he was promoted to the role following Marcel Sabitzer's departure to Bayern in 2022.

Endo 2021