Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reaching the semi-finals of the European Cup in the 1958–59 season. The club's colours are yellow of a golden shade and black.
History
1902–1925: The early years The club was founded in 1898. Its name was intended to mimic that of the Basel-based club Old Boys.
YB began to be successful very early on. Against Lausanne they celebrated a surprising 2–2 draw and on 26 October 1902 a 7–0 victory over Fortuna Basel. In these years YB also came out from the shadow of FC Bern. YB beat their city rivals away 3–1 and on 8 March 1903 5–0 at home. YB won the championship of the Central League and were invited to play in the finals of the Swiss championship. On 22 March was the first final against FC Zürich. YB played, among others, the two Schwab brothers, and they beat Zurich 3–1. On 29 March YB faced the West champion FC Neuchâtel. The guests from Neuchâtel were the clear favorites, because the Bern club had lost to them one month before 1–4. This caused Neuchâtel to make the error of underestimating the Young Boys. The Neuchâtel defense completely broke apart when the YB striker Walter Frey found the net shortly after halftime to post a 1–0 lead. The game ended with a one-sided 5–0 result, and YB after only five years of existence had won their first Swiss football championship.
After having trained for the early years on the Schwellenmätteli, below the Kirchenfeld bridge, YB played from the year 1904 at Spitalacker-Platz. In subsequent seasons the Young Boys did not win the championship but were always in the top three in the regional group. It took six years for YB to achieve further successes. In 1909, the Bernese defeated FC Winterthur in Basel in the finals 1–0. The next year, the Young Boys won the championship finals against FC Aarau 3–1 and against Servette Geneva 2–1. Again in 1911, Servette Geneva and FC Zürich could not prevent YB's fourth championship overall and third in a row. It was the first title hat trick in the history of the Swiss Football Association. YB was also in 1910 and the two following years the champion of the "Anglo-cup", the predecessor of today's Swiss Cup.
At the time, the fans spoke of a time all opponents dreaded, the "YB Quarter Hour" 15 minutes before the end of the game. The players sustained their efforts throughout the 90 minutes so effectively that the opponents began to run down after about 75 minutes. An example is the 1910 finals between the YB and Aarau, where until the 80th minute the score stood at 1–1. Similarly, in the game against Servette in the final round in 1911, up through the 72nd minute the game was a 1–1 draw, but three goals in the last 18 minutes turned the result decisively for YB to clinch the title hat trick.
In 1913, the English football instructor Reynold Williams became the first coach of the club. Shortly thereafter, World War I erupted, and Spitalacker-Platz was converted to a potato field. YB arranged to rent facilities at Kirchfeld for 1,400 francs per year. The military also made space available at the barracks for the team's use. Despite these hardships, the club won Swiss league championship again in 1920.
After the war, the team again played on the Spitalacker-Platz. However, the ground no longer suited the requirements of the Young Boys, so they searched for alternatives. They found space at the northeastern border of the city at the Wankdorffeld, and construction was initiated.
1925–1951: New name and new stadium In 1925, the association's name was changed from FC Young Boys to Berner Sport Club Young Boys. This year was also the last game on the old Spitalacker-platz. In October, the new Wankdorf Stadium by the architects Scherler & Berger was opened with a tournament. It was attended by the Old Boys from Basel, Servette Geneva, and the Young Boys. The new sports complex included a main grandstand with 1,200 covered seats, a restaurant, changing rooms, a training hall and a training ground. In total, the new stadium held 22,000 spectators, including covered standing room for 5,000. YB now had a large and modern stadium, which intensified the rivalry with FC Bern, because the older association continued to play at the small and outdated Neufeldplatz. The two clubs went so far as to negotiate a contract, facilitated by Central President Schlegel, to prevent discord.
In 1929, YB once again progressed to the final round of the Swiss championship. The first game, on a Sunday, pitted Urania Geneva Sport against YB, the second a week later Grasshoppers against Urania GC, and on the third Sunday in the final YB–GC. The first game in Geneva ended with a 0–0 draw, which satisfied the Bernese. When the Grasshoppers beat Geneva in Zurich 3–0, the chances for YB to win the title decreased tremendously. In the third game, the guests from Zürich needed only a draw to win the championship for the third time in a row. For this final on 30 June, Young Boys deployed replacement goalkeeper Erich Jung in the offensive midfield position due to player shortages. Striker Johan Baumgartner also scored a goal and YB prevented the championship hat trick with a 2–0 win.
On 10 February 1930, the club purchased an additional strip of land from the community, having noted that the stadium was too small, increasing the entire area of the Wankdorf stadium ground to 35,585 square metres. The 1930 Young Boys became the first to celebrate a Swiss Cup championship. The Swiss Cup had been initiated only five years earlier following the discontinuation of the Anglo Cup at the First World War. With 30,000 spectators crowding Wankdorf YB beat FC Aarau 1–0. In the following 15 years, YB won neither a league title nor a cup championship.
During this time, Wankdorf continued to expand. The capacity of the stadium increased by building an extension to 42,000 spectators, costing the association an additional 300,000 francs. Furthermore, another training field was added.
Towards the end of the 1930s, the world economic crisis started and Swiss football felt the effects. The attendance figures fell steadily, and the Sportplatz Spitalacker could no longer meet its financial obligations. After the outbreak of World War II, the club considered selling the stadium. However, through a debt-reduction and the help of the city of Bern in 1943, the finances of the club were rehabilitated. At that point, the stadium group changed its name to "Verein Fussball-Stadion Wankdorf".
During World War II, the Bernese succeeded but could not claim a title. Only in 1945, at the end of the war, came the next success: YB won the second Cup against FC St. Gallen with a 2–0 victory at Espenmoos. Two seasons later, the Bernese were relegated to the National League B. It would be three seasons until they returned to the highest league where they would then remain for over 50 years.
1951–1964: The golden years under Coach Albert Sing In 1951, Norbert Eric Jones was replaced after only one year as the manager by the previously unknown Albert Sing. At that time, no one anticipated the successful years YB would experience under the German coach. Sing acted initially as a player-coach before he decided to become a trainer only. During his tenure YB experienced its most successful period. The team was reinforced by high-level transfers such as Eugene "Geni" Meier. Considerable success during this period was also attributed to the goalkeeper Walter Eich, who was one of the best in the history of the Young Boys. Later, the team consisted of top players like Heinz Schneite and Ernst Wechselberger.
For the 1954 FIFA World Cup, the capacity of the Wankdorf stadium was increased from around 30,000 to more than 60,000 seats.
In the spring of 1953, Young Boys again advanced to the Cup. YB met Grasshoppers Zürich in the final pairing, and the clubs drew 1–1. Five weeks later, the teams met in a replay, which went to the Bernese 3–1. In the summer of that year, YB was invited to tour North America. The team played there against some American teams, Liverpool (1–1), and the Republic of Ireland national team (a 4–1 win for YB). YB produced impressive results overseas for Swiss football and was enthusiastically received by thousands upon its return to Bern. From 1957 and 1960, YB were Swiss champions four times in a row. During this time, YB became one of the more successful teams in European football and was superior to all Swiss opponents. 1958 brought yet another Cup when YB defeated Grasshoppers in a final replay, 4–1.
Young Boys also achieved success in European competition. At its first appearance in the European Cup, it were politically disadvantaged, however: the Bernese drew the Vasas Budapest, the Hungarian club of the Interior Ministry. Some Swiss politicians demanded that no Swiss sports club should have contacts with the Hungarian football club, especially in Bern, the capital. Servette FC made its Charmilles Stadium available for one game, and 20,000 spectators supported YB in Geneva during a 1–1 draw against the Hungarians. In the return match, however, Young Boys fell 1–2. The following year, Young Boys' opponents in the European Cup were once again from Hungary, this time MTK Budapest. YB won the leg in the Nep Stadium 2–1. 26 November 1958 saw the European premiere in Wankdorf; 28,000 spectators celebrated the Young Boys' 4–1 victory.
In the second round, YB met the East German champions SC Wismut Chemnitz and the Wankdorf was filled with 32,000 spectators. The teams drew 2–2 after a 2–0 lead for the Young Boys. A week later, the teams met in the GDR. The game ended 0–0, which at that time required a deciding game. This took place on 1 April 1959 in the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium before 35,000 spectators, and YB won 2–1. Thus, Young Boys qualified for the European Cup semi-finals. Their opponents in the semi-finals were Stade de Reims.
The game of games in the history of the yellow-and-black took place on 15 April 1959, a rainy Wednesday. Sixty-thousand spectators packed into Wankdorf, but the crowd may have exceeded the official count. After an impressive performance, YB won 1–0 on a Geni Meier goal in the 13th minute. The game was a legend in Bern. Stade de Reims received the Bernese in the return match at the Parc des Princes, Paris, where the Frenchmen won 3–0 to reach the final. No other Swiss team besides FC Zürich has since found as much success in an international competition as Young Boys did in this season.
In 1960, YB played internationally once again, meeting Eintracht Frankfurt in the first round, where Frankfurt won 4–1 before 36,000 spectators. In the return match at Frankfurt's Waldstadion, YB managed a 1–1 draw. In 1961, the team first travelled to Ireland to meet Limerick, where YB won with an impressive 5–0 showing, then again 4–2 in front of 22,000 spectators at Wankdorf in the return leg. In the second round, YB met Hamburger SV (and its star striker Uwe Seeler) in what was the first European Cup game in that team's history. Forty-five thousand spectators were at the game in the Wankdorf, where Hamburg stunned YB with a 5–0 victory. In Hamburg, the Bernese improved upon their previous performance, earning a 3–3 draw before 40,000 spectators in the Volksparkstadion. It would be the last appearance in Europe for YB for a long time.
After four league titles, a European Cup run and many successes, Young Boys traveled 31 days through the Far East, in five weeks having visited ten countries and played several friendly matches against Asian teams.
Albert Sing left BSC Young Boys in 1964 and is still the most successful coach in the history of the club.
1964–1984: Averageness