GERMAN football club St Pauli have refused the use of their stadium for a German Cup game because Leipzig are one of the teams involved.

Leipzig, the defending champions, were drawn at Hamburg-based FC Teutonia Ottensen in the first round.

The fourth-tier club’s 5,000-capacity ground is unsuitable for the game on August 31 because artificial grass is not permitted in the cup, so they asked their bigger neighbour if they could use their Millerntor Stadium to host the match.

But St Pauli, who play in the second division and have played in the Bundesliga before, turned down Teutonia’s application on principle against Leipzig’s business model and due to concerns that allowing the Red Bull-backed team to play in their stadium would lead to protests from their own fans.

St Pauli spokesman Patrick Gensing told the Associated Press yesterday that the club do not want to elaborate on the reply they sent Teutonia, which was quoted in depth by the local Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper.

“It’s well-known that St Pauli takes an extremely critical view of the RB model because we believe it’s incompatible with the 50+1 rule, which we are committed to,” St Pauli wrote to Teutonia, according to the Hamburger Abendblatt.

Leipzig were only formed in 2009 when Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, a 78-year-old Austrian billionaire, bought a local fifth-tier team and rebranded them with the company’s livery. Red Bull then financed the new team’s steady promotion through the lower leagues to the Bundesliga in 2016.

German football’s 50+1 rule is designed to prevent outside investors from taking over a club by keeping most voting rights with its members.

But Leipzig get around the rule by preventing regular fans from becoming voting members. All their voting members are connected to the Red Bull company.

“The RB model is also strongly rejected among our fans and supporters,” St Pauli wrote.

“FC St Pauli therefore does not want to give RB a stage beyond possible mandatory games, especially not at the Millerntor, which stands as a symbol of solidarity and fairer football.”

It’s not the first time Leipzig have encountered opposition because of their business model. German Cup finalist Freiburg refused to allow the use of their crest or logo for any joint potential merchandising endeavours with Leipzig ahead of the final in May.

Teutonia are looking for an alternative venue to host the game.