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EUROPE Sunday, July 31, 2005 Young Boys Wankdorf erection relief BERN, Switzerland, July 31 (Reuters) - The supporters of Young Boys Bern have not had too much to celebrate in the 19 years since their team last won the Swiss league title. Long since eclipsed by the likes of FC Basel and Grasshoppers Zurich, the club from the Swiss capital has even got a reputation for enjoying its status as a perennial loser. Looking on as acrobats, musicians and dancers took to the pitch, the stad ium's private investors gladly shared Schmid's enthusiasm while insistin g the financial viability of the overall complex does not depend solely on the team's success. Working to a budget of about 85 million Swiss francs -- surpassed in Swi ss football only by FC Basel's estimated 30 million -- Zaugg made eight pre-season signings. The most notable coup was convincing Switzerland midfielder and former Ba sel hero Hakan Yakin to join the club. Having won both their opening away matches to take an early lead at the t op of the Swiss standings, Young Boys already look prepared for their se ason of change. The future hosts for Swiss Cup finals -- previously held exclusively in B ern -- is also still to be decided. The Bern stadium is, however, already set to stage three group matches at the 2008 European Championships, marking a return to the international stage more than half a century after the old Wankdorf hosted the 1954 Wo rld Cup final. Back in those days, Young Boys had something of a giant-killing reputatio n in Europe and even reached the semi-finals of the 1959 European Cup. A second round defeat to Olympic Marseille in this season's Intertoto Cup reminded Bern's supporters that European glory is still a long way off. Thanks to the new home, though, domestic success no longer looks quite so impossible.
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