lit a candle 2h agoWas just reading about the 753 minutes clean sheet record an hour ago, some deep dive into old Swiss football. Didn't expect to see his name again today like this.
Their story
Jakob Brechbühl, known throughout Bern as Köbi, was a Swiss footballer who spent his entire playing career with BSC Young Boys and won 20 caps for the Switzerland national team. A small, fast and hard shooting right back, he was one of the most popular players at the old Wankdorf…
Jakob Brechbühl, known throughout Bern as Köbi, was a Swiss footballer who spent his entire playing career with BSC Young Boys and won 20 caps for the Switzerland national team. A small, fast and hard shooting right back, he was one of the most popular players at the old Wankdorf stadium in the 1970s and early 1980s. He died on 1 October 2026, aged 74.
He was born on 29 January 1952 and came through the youth ranks at Young Boys, the club of his home city. As a junior he played as a quick outside forward, and it was in that position that he made his first team debut in April 1972, aged 20. He was known for the power of his shot, his speed and his strength in the tackle.
His breakthrough came when coach Kurt Linder moved him to right back. Standing only 1.68 metres tall, Brechbühl played the role in a way that was unusually attacking for the time, and his fast runs down the wing made him a favourite with the Wankdorf crowd. Swiss reports after his death described him as a forerunner of the modern attacking full back. In the autumn of 1975 he was part of the defence, alongside Vögeli, Trümpler and Rebmann, that helped goalkeeper Walter Eichenberger set an unofficial record of 753 minutes without conceding a goal.
Between 1971 and 1983 he made 323 competitive appearances for Young Boys, including 264 matches in the top division. He won the Swiss League Cup with the club in 1976 and the Swiss Cup in 1977, the greatest success of his career, and was also part of a Young Boys side that won the Intertoto Cup. His club form earned him a place in the national team, for whom he played 20 internationals in the second half of the 1970s. His son Marc Brechbühl also became a footballer and, like his father, played for Young Boys.
Young Boys made him an honorary member many years before his death. He died on 1 October 2026 after a serious illness. Announcing his death on 5 October, the club said he had died after a long period of suffering borne with great dignity, and wrote that he was small in stature but a giant as a Swiss footballer. The club said he would remain unforgettable to the yellow and black, and arranged a minute of silence in his memory before its home match against FC St. Gallen on 24 October 2026.
Biography adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), BSC Young Boys statement, Blick, kicker, Nau.ch, Keystone-SDA. Wikipedia ↗
Photos
1Jakob Brechbühl in 1976 at the Neufeld stadium in Bern
by People Forever
that record still blows my mind, 1975 and no official recognition even