Rörswil Regional Football Campus Project: Boosting Football Infrastructure in Bern

You don’t need to hear the grass grow to understand the condition of the grasslands around Bern. Instead of running the ball, girls and boys are on the waiting list of football clubs. die Football pitches are fully booked from early morning to late evening, especially on weekends. The euphoria for the Women’s European Championship in 2025, the current template for women’s football, is in danger of crashing into the wall due to the lack of training opportunities.

The condition of the football fields has not been good for years. This is despite the fact that in the city of Bern alone, 30 million francs have been invested in grass fields in the last ten years. According to forecasts by the sports department of the city of Bern, there will be a lack of at least a dozen natural turfs or six artificial turf fields by 2030, the local council announced in January. The pressure of congestion has also reached the football fields.

If there is no immediate solution, relief is at least in sight. A conglomerate consisting of the BSC Young Boys, the canton of Bern, the city of Bern and the municipalities of Ostermundigen and Bolligen near the city wants to build a regional football campus from the ground up. This is to be built on the border of Bolligen and Ostermundigen, in “Rörswil”. Right next to the country estate of the Hess family, who are very involved in the international wine trade. A good solution was found for the current agricultural tenant “Rörswil” with a land swap in Witzwil in Seeland, said Christoph Neuhaus, government advisor for the canton of Bern.

The campus is well served by public transport, says Marcel Brülhart, Vice President of YB: “The RBS train already runs every seven minutes to Bolligen. ” Those responsible for the project expect the additional traffic to be kept within limits. Separate traffic will be sent to the campus via the bypass road and the Wegmühlegässli.

A place for women’s, amateur and youth football

On the one hand, a stadium with 2,000 to up to 4,000 seats is to be built on campus. This is available a priori to the first women’s team and the senior teams. On the other hand, eight training areas are planned. During the day, these will be available to YB women’s and youth teams and school sports. From late afternoon they are reserved for amateur football players.

Many enthusiastic and progressive speakers at the press conference (from left to right): René Bergmann, Thomas Iten, Christoph Neuhaus, Marcel Brülhart, Christoph Spycher, Alec von Graffenried and Albert Staudenmann, head of media at YB.

When it comes to access to greens, this concept is intended to provide a visible relief to the surrounding clubs. In addition to the long waiting lists for girls and boys interested in football, the offers for popular and physical sports are also at their highest level. “It cannot be true that every girl and boy who loves football does not have a place to play football,” he summarizes Brülhart.

From a sports perspective, the project is completed with a triple sports hall for Bolligen and Ostermundigen. BSC Young Boys finance and operate the stadium and football pitches. The project is currently estimated to have a funding volume of between 70 and 80 million francs. “It is not clear at this stage who will receive funding. We cannot provide more detailed information at this time,” said Brülhart.

The canton is planning a competence center for young people with high needs for support and protection

But it’s not just football that will be taking part in the proposed campus. The canton of Bern wants to build a new watch station on the site. Here, male teenagers twelve and older as well as young adults who find themselves in extremely difficult life situations are given a place and receive social educational support.

René Bergmann supports the canton’s observation station in the center of Bolligen.

This new center is planned to replace the old facility in Bolligen. “This is in the agricultural area, it’s not in a good location and it also needs renovation,” Neuhaus said. When asked if the use of the campus at the same time by school children and young adults who find themselves in challenging life situations is not a source of conflict, Neuhaus says: “No, not at all. These young people are not dangerous. René Bergmann, the mayor of Bolligen, also does not see any problem here and she says: “It is not wise to push these young people to the edge of civilization. I am clearly in favor of integration.”

The project comes too late for the 2025 Women’s European Championship

The project comes too late to integrate the increase in the Women’s European Championship. “Yes it is. The project is definitely overdue for next year’s Women’s European Championship,” confirms Christoph Spycher, representative of YB VR. It is certain that the enthusiasm for women’s football will go far beyond the event of the h – next year. YB even assumes that the number of licensed players will double by 2026.

Christoph Spycher (right) knows that the project for the 2025 Women’s European Championship is coming too late. Despite this, he is confident that the commitment to women’s football will continue. Alec von Graffenried also shares this opinion.

Expressed in numbers, this means: 80,000 players. From 2021 to 2023, the number of licensed players across Switzerland increased from 31,400 to over 41,100. This corresponds to an increase of more than 30 percent. The EM should now promote this development further.

Next steps and continuation of the meadow strategy in the city of Bern

The next step for the joint project is to begin the design process. It is expected that the project will be published in twelve months, so that the principles of spatial planning for each town can be approved by the end of 2025. Those in charge of the project have made it their goal to apply the building submitted in just over two years, in May 2026.

Regardless of the planned “Rörswil” campus, the city of Bern continues with its meadow strategy. In January, the local council announced that it had selected three locations for new grass sports pitches. These are located at the Brünnen Westside train station, at the terminus of tram 7 in Bümpliz and at the Rudolf Steiner School near the Paul Klee Center. The implementation of these plans requires the approval of the voters, because a change to the zoning plan is required at every possible location.

The realization will take several years. Platform J wanted to know if it would stay that way or if the joint project would affect the lawn strategy. These places will continue to be implemented as additions, “at the same pace and independently of the performance of the ‘Rörswil’ project,” said Alec von Graffenried, Mayor of Bern.

Alec von Graffenried is looking forward to the football campus “Rörswil” and wants to promote football projects in the city of Bern.

More construction sites are also visible

In May 2023, the Bern city council also announced that the Grosse and Kleine Allmend in Wankdorf would be redesigned. This means that the parking spaces above ground today should disappear underground, into a parking garage. This will create space for new training areas for YB’s professional teams, says von Graffenried. With the “Rörswil” project, YB is essentially prepaying and contributing to popular sports. “The two projects are not connected to each other, and YB has no expectations of the city in this regard,” says Brülhart. “With the ‘Rörswil’ project we could solve two of three problems: the offer for popular sports and women’s and youth football. We see the solution of the professional sector in the redesign of the Grosse Allmend.

The Wankdorf stadium is not only a competition venue for the first team, but also a training venue.

“YB is the only professional club in Switzerland that needs to train in the stadium and does not have its own training infrastructure,” said Spycher. With this change, YB would have its own training infrastructure, and the long-awaited switch to natural grass in the Wankdorf stadium would be possible, Spycher continues.The natural surface aims to sustainably improve the competitiveness of the traditional Bern club and also allow women’s national teams and men play again in the capital, according to BSC Young Boys.

With this prediction, all “Tschutti fans” in Bern hold on to the “Bänkli” and look forward to the future “Gschänkli” in the form of games of the first level with women’s and men’s teams. Those responsible for the project want to realize the campus by 2028/2029. If the redesign of Allmend’s work, which Graffenried assumes can be implemented in the early 1930s, this would not only be the beginning of “YB quarter of an hour”, but instead of “YB a quarter of a century”.