Marked for Alan Virginius
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Feb 2027
33 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Christian Fassnacht and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 31 days on the sidelines for Ablie Jallow, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Young Boys, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Cédric Zesiger is on it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Herba Guirassy knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Herba Guirassy trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Feb 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Young Boys know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A season on the outside for Armin Gigović
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Young Boys has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Young Boys. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Jan 2027
Bragging rights belong to Young Boys for another year after a 1‑0 win over Basel in front of a full house.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The offer went to Orlando Pirates this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Young Boys will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Herba Guirassy is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sion have kept their man, and Young Boys go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Beat anybody else and it is three points. Beat them and it is a story a city tells for a decade. Young Boys have their man.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
An offer of $630.0K for Varol Tasar
Young Boys have gone to Yverdon with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market4 Jan 2027
The name of Saidy Janko has come up in conversations Young Boys were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Christian Fassnacht and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to Lugano, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Gerard Deulofeu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Basel next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Young Boys dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Loris Mvogo left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match5 Dec 2026
1‑2 to St. Gallen, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Gerard Deulofeu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alan Virginius, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Christian Fassnacht is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Boardroom7 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Young Boys dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Christian Fassnacht is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
Zurich will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Young Boys were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Match30 Nov 2026
The view from the top for Young Boys
27 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Match25 Nov 2026
A European lesson for Young Boys
0‑2 against Lechia. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.92 for the rest of it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Christian Fassnacht and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match28 Nov 2026
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Christian Fassnacht in the middle of it, and Zurich unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A row about effort at Young Boys
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerard Deulofeu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match23 Nov 2026
Young Boys refuse to drop out of the race
Position 2, 24 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.74 for the rest of it.
Match21 Nov 2026
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Match21 Nov 2026
1‑2 to Grasshopper, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Top-of-the-table clash for Young Boys
Zurich next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Young Boys dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Cédric Zesiger has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Young Boys will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gerard Deulofeu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad16 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Young Boys this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ryan Andrews gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Squad16 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Young Boys man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Kaly Sène was the best thing in any of them.
Market16 Nov 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Armin Gigović’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Cédric Zesiger’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Young Boys needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Alan Virginius has written the date down.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
The goals keep arriving from Sergio Córdova’s exile
3 goals in 8 games at St. Louis CITY SC — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Young Boys updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
A derby is never about the football alone, but the football helped: 5‑1, and the away end emptied early. Bragging rights renewed for another season.
Match30 Sep 2026
A European night to remember for Young Boys
2‑0 against Ferencvaros, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The Young Boys support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Samuel Essende, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Herba Guirassy is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Oct 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Young Boys and Basel in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Young Boys training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gerard Deulofeu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Young Boys pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
In brief
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The dugout
Ryan Andrews gets it from the manager
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Samuel Essende has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Samuel Essende: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Young Boys have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Young Boys asked and Zurich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Young Boys
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gerard Deulofeu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Lewin Blum gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match12 Sep 2026
It needed Christian Fassnacht to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sion, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Alan Virginius
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Loris Mvogo on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Young Boys, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. St. Gallen have kept their man, and Young Boys go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Romain Amalfitano, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ablie Jallow was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.61. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match29 Aug 2026
It needed Samuel Essende to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against St. Gallen, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Loris Mvogo chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.