FlashFocus: Trophy-laden Young Boys risk relegation after dismal start
Across Europe's football leagues, there are a number of teams that are used to winning titles every season, or at least fighting for them until the end. Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Bayern Munich are some of the big clubs that win silverware year after year.
The same is true in the Swiss top flight, where Young Boys have been dominant in recent years. Having won six championships in the last seven years, the Bernese side have established themselves as a powerhouse in their home country, as well as being a regular fixture in the Champions League.
It's therefore surprising that Young Boys find themselves in the relegation zone in the Swiss league this season, 12 points off the top after just 10 games played.
Although there are still plenty of matches left to play, the poor start to the season is obviously causing a stir in the Swiss media. Several national media outlets have tried to analyse why the otherwise successful club is going through such a bad patch.
Christmas holidays were the beginning of the downturn
Swiss media outlet 20 Minuten has created a timeline of when Young Boys' decline started and we have to go back to December 2023 to find the beginning of the downturn.
Young Boys may have won the Swiss league last season, but the campaign was not without its problems. 20 Minuten writes that although the club had done brilliantly and went into the Christmas break as the leading side in the league and advanced to the knockout phase of the Europa League, problems were brewing in the squad.
Long-time star Jean-Pierre Nsame was unhappy that he wasn't getting enough playing time, and the same was true for talented Aurele Amenda. In the January transfer window, Nsame eventually moved to Italian club Como after seven years at Young Boys.
The poor start to 2024 really became apparent when defensive rock Loris Benito was injured in February, while head coach Raphael Wicky was subsequently sacked in March after a string of disappointing results at the start of the year.
Despite the difficult start to 2024, Young Boys still ended up as champions. The Bernese club picked up 2.02 points per game, which is great by any standards, but it was nevertheless the lowest points average Young Boys had managed to scrape together in a season in which they had become champions.
Last season's championship didn't bring calm to the club for that reason. There is a lot of dissatisfaction with the two senior managers at the club, Christoph Spycher and sporting director Steve von Bergen, who have only chosen to bring in young players.
Terrible start to the season despite CL qualification
Young Boys' problems have not only continued into the current season, but got considerably worse. The Swiss giants lost their first three games of the season and it took them until the seventh round to get their first league win.
Although Nsame hasn't been able to help the team this season following his move to Como, and defensive stalwart Loris Benito is struggling to recover from injury, Young Boys have almost the same team that won the championship.
Despite this, there have not been many bright spots in the season so far, but there have been two positive matches in particular. The most uplifting performances have been the victories over Galatasaray in the Champions League qualifiers, which secured Young Boys a place in the league phase of the prestigious tournament.
The Swiss side won both home and away, and it seemed that the club was getting back on track.
However, they have instead lost their first three matches in the tournament. Those games have admittedly been tough, against Aston Villa, Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Before the international break, Young Boys also lost 1-0 to rivals FC Basel, ultimately costing head coach Patrick Rahmen his job after just a few months in charge.
Season-defining period
Something drastic needs to happen if Young Boys' season is not to end in total failure. There are many indications that the crisis-ridden team will have their work cut out for them in the coming months.
However, there may be light at the end of the otherwise pitch-black tunnel. In the first game after the recent international break, Young Boys secured a vital victory over Luzern, who were in joint first place before the game.
The coming weeks will undoubtedly be season-defining for the Bern side, as they face Lugano twice in the next five league games, as well as Basel, Zurich and Lucerne.
If Young Boys manage to win the five "games of destiny", they can play themselves back into the title race. However, if they lose two or three of those games, the big team from Bern will have to say goodbye to their title aspirations.
