Young Boys II

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".