As part of the second matchday of the new Hoval Promotion League season, Lugano U21 take on their local rivals Young Boys – who are also coming off the back of a slip-up in their opening match – at the Wankdorf Stadium on a sweltering Sunday afternoon. At the final whistle, the scoreboard favoured the yellow and blacks, who won 3–1 (1–1) and thus secured all three points against Lugano for the fourth time out of four at home.
For the occasion, manager Andrea Vitali was forced to do without striker Rafael Frizzi, who was sent off in the closing stages of last weekend’s match against Bulle, but welcomed back Ian Tiraboschi, who was making his competitive debut after serving a one-match ban following the red card he received in the final game of last season in Kreuzlingen. The starting line-up also features a few changes, with Nicola Gamba starting from the first minute – and being entrusted with the captain’s armband in the absence of Milad Amirzade – as well as the inclusion of new signing Leon Rüeger and 15-year-old centre-forward Kenan Jakupović, underlining the club’s commitment to developing home-grown talent by giving them the chance to play a leading role in matches at a higher level than they are used to.
The match got off to a rather subdued start for both sides. The players on the pitch were careful not to make mistakes that could prove immediately costly. Then, as the sixth minute ticked over, a long throw-in from the home side was misjudged by the Ticino side, who first allowed Nicolò Urbano to attempt a diagonal shot, superbly blocked with his feet by Ahmadou Ndiaye – though he could do nothing about the follow-upfrom close range by Eliah Küpfer, who was quickest to pounce on the ball and put his name on the scoresheet, converting the first chance of the match. The visitors’ first chance, meanwhile, fell to Gamba’s head in the sixteenth minute. The #13’s header was promising, but missed the target by a whisker.
Whilst Joël Magnin’s men enjoyed possession, their opponents sought to maintain their positions to deny space for attacking manoeuvres and, in turn, tried to capitalise on the pace of the players operating from the halfway line onwards. After the mandatory ‘cooling break’, Edin Etoski sprints towards Ndiaye and sends a shiver down his spine, with the ball skimming past the post. At the other end, Christian Raffa forces Jan Uebersax to stretch to his full height to prevent the equaliser. Exactly the same happens with the next header from the same attacking midfielder and with Jakupović’s shot, which is parried with difficulty with his feet. These three chances in quick succession show that the Lugano side are very much in the game and have no intention of playing the role of ‘sacrificial lamb’. Confirming all this, the 1–1 equaliser came deservedly, scored with a precise right-footed shot across goal by the youngest player on the pitch, Jakupović, who was quick to get on the end of Tiraboschi’s through ball following a ball recovery in the final third and slotted it home coolly. At half-time, the level scoreline was a fair reflection of the game. This was despite a golden opportunity to turn the match around falling to the left-footed Tiraboschi, who, one-on-one with Uebersax, managed to get his shot away but struck the ball straight into the Bernese goalkeeper’s body.
The chance that kicked off the second half came from the Rome side, with a powerful header from Loris Macumi hitting the crossbar just 120 seconds after the teams returned from the dressing rooms. As the clock ticked rapidly towards the hour mark, Ndiaye made a decisive diving save. At the other end of the pitch, a run down the left flank by Nicolò Puddu failed to yield a clear-cut chance, as the ball crossed the entire goalmouth without any teammate getting a touch on it. This came just moments before the first substitutions, made by the bianconeri, with Tobia Donnini and Bryan Zurmühle coming on in place of Jason Parente and goalscorer Jakupović, who – in addition to his goal – had put in a positive first performance.
The constant directness in the Bianconeri’s attacking play subsequently yielded a new lead. A perfectly timed through ball for Josiah Seyfu put the winger in a position to direct the ball into the far top corner, where Ndiaye was simply unable to intervene. After the second drinks break of the match, it was the newly-introduced Andrea Riva who tried his luck. His ‘sure-fire’ shot was deflected at the last moment for a corner in the 71st minute. Five minutes later, it was Zurmühle who was denied, this time by Uebersax. Although it wasn’t a period of suffocating pressure, the Lugano side’s determination to seal the match with a result that would boost their league position was evident. That hope was dashed, however, as another fine assist sent Seyfu through to seal the victory. The home side’s star striker’s goal in the 82nd minute, making it 3–1, proved too much for the visitors to overcome. There was little time left for a potential comeback, and Young Boys U21 took advantage to control the game and secure their first three points of the season.
João Carbone and his team-mates – who left the Wankdorf empty-handed for the fourth year running – will, for their part, try to secure those points in their third fixture of the season, scheduled for Saturday 15 August 2026 at 17:30 against Lucerne U21 at the Al Maglio Sports Centre in Canobbio.
First, however, manager Andrea Vitali offers his usual post-match reflections: “We had plenty of chances to cause damage but failed to capitalise, even missing a few clear-cut goals. The yellow-and-blacks, on the other hand, made the most of the chances they created. It’s a shame, because the team’s performance was decent, though marred by the usual defensive and attacking errors, particularly with the chances that fell to Ian Tiraboschi, Christian Raffa and Bryan Zurmühle. In short, we lacked clinical finishing. It’s a shame – we felt we could have got a result, but we didn’t manage it. Our hope is to pick up points at the next opportunity against Lucerne U21. This year, however, patience must be our guiding principle. The team is made up of younger players and needs to make mistakes in order to learn. We know we’re facing difficult months ahead and we’re working hard to ‘correct’ our approach, analysing a couple of avoidable situations that have cost us dearly.”
MATCH REPORT
Hoval Promotion League 2026–2027, Matchday 2
Stadion Wankdorf, Bern
BSC YOUNG BOYS U21 – FC LUGANO U21 3–1 (1–1)
GOALS: 6’ Küpfer 1–0, 34’ Jakupović 1–1, 62’ Seyfu 2–1, 82’ Seyfu 3–1.
BSC YOUNG BOYS U21 (4–2–3–1): Uebersax; Souza (79’ Dema), Damnjanović, Ubaka (85’ Zufferey), Macumi; Tschanz, Jost (85’ Isa); Etoski (67’ Ocran), Küpfer (79’ Ramadani), Seyfu; Urbano.
Substitutes: Cherif, Gambardella.
Manager: Joël Magnin.
FC LUGANO U21 (3-4-1-2): Ndiaye; Krueziu, João Carbone, Gamba (69' Radić); Davis, Puddu, Parente (59' Donnini), Rüeger; Raffa (85' Gervasini); Tiraboschi (69' Riva), Jakupović (59' Zurmühle).
Substitutes: Mina, Ourais.
Manager: Andrea Vitali.
REFEREE: Joël Brunner.
ASSISTANT REFEREES: Fabian Weber and Kevin Berli.
BOOKINGS: 38' Raffa, 73' Puddu, 84' Urbano, 90' +3' Krueziu.
Men's U21August 10, 2026