BSC Young Boys are back in the UEFA Champions League and began their campaign in the new 2024/25 league phase with a home game against Aston Villa on September 17.
That match ended in a 3-0 home defeat, and things don’t get much easier on matchday two: they head to Barcelona amid a run of just one win in eight league matches at the beginning of the season.
The Swiss side come from the capital of Bern and have a notable history in UEFA competitions. They made their debut in UEFA tournaments back in 1957, following their title win in the 1956/57 Swiss League, which secured their spot in the prestigious European Cup.
The pinnacle of their history in Europe came in the 1958/59 European Cup, where they reached the semifinals. However, their remarkable run was ended by Reims, and they have never managed to emulate it since.
The dominant side in Switzerland in recent seasons, having won four of the past five Super League titles, Young Boys famously beat Manchester United 2-1 in the group stages of the Champions League in 2021 in a game that had Cristiano Ronaldo on the scoresheet.
Young Boys have proved that it’s unwise to underestimate them, even though the odds in these fixtures are frequently stacked against them. But how did they get their unusual team name? And is there an Old Boys, too?
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Why are they called Young Boys?
As one of the most prominent clubs in Swiss football, BSC Young Boys’ name intrigues fans worldwide. They are one of the oldest teams in Switzerland and have won the Swiss Super League 17 times overall, including in six of the past seven seasons.
The club’s name dates back to the late 19th century when they were founded by four students: Max Schwab, Hermann Bauer, Franz Kehrli, and Oskar Schwab. Given their ages, they called themselves FC Young Boys.
They played their first match on June 17, 1898 against FC Viktoria. Initially competing as a student team of FC Bern, there was an acrimonious split once senior players representing the latter felt their places in the team were threatened by the young upstarts.
Young Boys were admitted to the Swiss Football Association in 1900, and have hardly looked back. In 1925, they became Berner Sport Club Young Boys, a name serving as a testament to the club’s local pride, especially when representing the city of Bern in European competitions.
They remain BSC Young Boys to his day.
🔜⏳#YBMCI ✨#UCL #BSCYB #YBFOREVER pic.twitter.com/keBkNj8WE0
— BSC YOUNG BOYS (@BSC_YB) October 25, 2023
Is there an Old Boys team in Switzerland?
Yes, there is.
Young Boys’ founders were inspired by BSC Old Boys, a team that originated from Basel. They even adopted the established club’s yellow and black jersey colours.
Old Boys still play today, although they have fallen on harder times. They play in the 2. Liga Interregional, the fifth tier of Swiss football.