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The support that Christoph Spycher has received from Hans-Ueli, Jöggi Rihs for short, majority shareholder of BSC Young Boys AG, has been boundless for years. In the (rare) informal conversations with him – Rihs has not given any interviews since the first modern championship title in 2018 – he praises the delegate sport of the Board of Directors above the club. And now comes the ultimate vote of confidence. Rihs sold a minority of his shares to Spycher and his son Stefan (who will do so in 2022). This means that Spycher will become co-owner of YB.
A spectacular step for a club that wants nothing more than ‘spectacle’ à la Basel, FCZ or Sion. Everything here must come from calmness. A philosophy that is lived unconditionally. And if players dare to deviate from this, they will immediately be reprimanded.
But it hasn’t been from Spycher for a long time. In mid-2022, he was promoted from head of sports to VR sports representative and has therefore partly outgrown the operational business. By acquiring the shares he will probably get further away from that.
But why this step? Spycher says he was surprised when Jöggi Rihs approached him some time ago and made him this offer: “I never thought that one day I would be able to work for YB at this level.” It was the wish of Jöggi and Stefan Rihs to give the whole thing a broader basis. “We want to have a good long-term perspective at a strategic level,” the man everyone calls ‘Wuschu’ tells SRF.
The Spycher success story
Does this mean the eternal yellow-black wuschu? He says: “It was a beautiful, long and intensive journey during these 14 years.” Past. It was. Okay, you can’t read too much into it. But Spycher also says it’s difficult to see far into the future. “You never know what life will bring you.” So there will probably come a time when Spycher will look for a new challenge. His contract expires in 2025. But it is now clear that this will not be a completely Spycher free period. As a shareholder he will always remain part of the club. At least, as long as he doesn’t sell his share.
CS’s success story is unparalleled. In 2014 he ended his active career at YB and became a talent manager. In 2016 he became sports director and successor to Fredy Bickel. This is the express wish of the Rihs brothers. But only after a long period of deliberation and depending on what he believes to be the indispensable strategic freedom of decision-making, does he agree. In 2018, YB won its first championship title in 32 years. And it hasn’t stopped since.
Five titles in six years
The championship titles are bubbling up. Five in six years. Plus two cup wins. And three Champions League appearances. This is how the millions bubble up. Thanks to the premier league. But also thanks to the transfers. After Fabien Rieder last summer, Aurèle Amenda will once have brought in 15 million. Total 30 million. That is more than the budget of almost all Super League clubs. Perhaps with the exception of Basel and Servette. And Jöggi Rihs himself has not had to inject a single (emergency) franc for more than seven years, YB is so well positioned. Long forgotten are the moments when his brother Andy, who died in 2018, spoke dissatisfied about the fact that they had invested ‘fifty boxes’ in this club. Return on investment at that moment: zero!
Today the main shareholder is 80 years old. He no longer wants to sell the club. That has a lot to do with Spycher. That is why Rihs wanted to avoid losing this guarantee of success at all costs. He thought the measure to make Spycher co-owner was important for long-term planning. Rihs is quoted in the press release as follows – as I said, there has been nothing of him for years: “I am extremely pleased that my son Stefan and I can have an important partner, Christoph Spycher, involved in the YB shareholder base. Christoph has become a central identification figure in Bern. At the same time, it is a guarantee of important YB values such as unconditional motivation, modesty and humility.”
A sudden sale of the once controversial club seems impossible. The competition must realize that YB will probably remain number one for years to come. Such as FC Bayern Munich. However, that is no guarantee that we will win the title every year. But big clubs continue undeterred. And a year later they consolidated their hegemony again.
|
team
|
SP
|
T.D
|
PT
|
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1
|
 BSC Young Boys
|
22
|
28
|
47
|
|
|
2
|
 Napkin FC
|
22
|
13
|
41
|
|
|
3
|
 FC St. Gallen
|
22
|
7
|
36
|
|
|
4
|
 FC Lucerne
|
22
|
-1
|
34
|
|
|
5
|
 FC Zurich
|
22
|
10
|
33
|
|
|
6
|
 FC Lugano
|
22
|
5
|
33
|
|
|
7
|
 FC Winterthur
|
22
|
-6
|
29
|
|
|
8th
|
 Yverdon Sports FC
|
22
|
-15
|
27
|
|
|
9
|
 Grasshopper Club Zurich
|
22
|
0
|
25
|
|
|
10
|
 FC Basel
|
22
|
-8th
|
25
|
|
|
11
|
 FC Lausanne Sport
|
22
|
-8th
|
21
|
|
|
12
|
 FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy
|
22
|
-25
|
14
|
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
