BSC Young Boys

Early on in its history, Young Boys became the most supported club in the city of Bern, and that still holds true today. In addition to winning several Swiss Championships and Swiss Cups, they’re the only Swiss team to reach the semi-finals of the European Cup. They’re known for their yellow-and-black club colors and rivalries with Basel and Thun. The abbreviations "BCS" stands for Berner Sport Club (the club was, however, founded as FC Young Boys).

Young Boys playing at the Spitalacker-Platz in 1908.

History

Early success

The club was founded in 1898 by four University of Bern students, including the first president Max Schwab. The original name of the club was Fussballclub Young Boys. They played their first game in June that year, defeating FC Viktoria. Around this time, they merged with their FC Bern; however, the merger was soon abandoned, which lead to a fierce inter-city rivalry.

The club won its first national championship in 1903, defeating Zürich (3-1) and Neuchâtel (5-0) in the final playoffs after winning Serie A Central regional group. By the end of the decade, they took a step further by becoming the first Swiss team to win three straight Serie A championships. This period is still remembered for the so-called YB Quarter Hour, which referred to the final 15 minutes of the game. By that time, their opponents would usually be too exhausted to keep up with the physically dominant YB players.

The glory years

The following four decades brought about a dry spell for Young Boys, who managed to claim just three major trophies during that period. This changed with the arrival of Albert Sing, who went from being a player-coach to a full-time manager. Under Sing, the club went through the most successful period in its history, winning four straight Swiss Championships from 1957 to 1960, along with two Swiss Cups in 1953 and 1958.

The 1958/59 season saw Young Boys make waves on the international scene as well. In the preliminary round, they were paired with Manchester United, a club that was still recuperating from the Munich air disaster. This resulted in YB advancing to the final stage automatically, but they proved they deserved to be there by making it all the way to a semi-finals match with Reims. YB won the first game 1-0, but lost the rematch 0-3.

Modern times

Following Sing’s departure in 1964, YB entered another major slump. By the end of the century, they had won just one Swiss Championship and two Swiss Cups. In 1997, the ongoing financial difficulties led to them getting relegated to the Second Division for the first time ever. Though the club ended up earning promotion the next season, it continued to flirt with bankruptcy until a Lucerne investment company provided the needed financial injection.

The new century saw Young Boys improve steadily, starting with a move to the freshly built Stade de Suisse (later known as Wankdorf Stadium) in 2005. Soon enough, they started competing for trophies again, finishing as runners-up in 2010 and reaching third place in 2011 and 2012. This renewed effort eventually culminated in the club winning two straight Super League titles in 2018 and 2019.

By Martin Wahl

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSC_Young_Boys
https://www.bscyb.ch
http://liberoguide.com/young-boys/
Image sources:
www.ybfans.ch / Heinz Burri