Aurèle Amenda: a Young Boy with plenty of experience | OneFootball

From YB youth product inspired by a basketball legend to league-winner and star of the Swiss league, Aurèle Amenda has come a long way in the past few years.

Nineteen-year-old Aurèle Amenda is one of Switzerland’s most talented young players, and was part of the extended squad for the ‘Nati’ at the EURO currently under way before missing the final cut, due to “unfortunately being slowed down by injuries when we first got together”, according to Swiss head coach Murat Yakin.

Nevertheless, the initial call-up was the latest logical step for the 25-time youth international, who has captained the U-19s for his country, with the team on course to qualify for the U-21 European Championship after a 3-1 win against Albania at the end of March.

YB talent production line

One look at the EURO squad is enough for anyone to realise that the teenager from Biel/Bienne in the canton of Berne clearly went to the right place for career development, with four Switzerland players coming through the ranks of the club.

Amenda has been growing in stature over the past few years, both literally (from 1.94 metres to 1.97 metres) and figuratively. Having moved up to the Young Boys first-team squad at the age of 18 in December 2021, he made his Swiss Super League debut in February 2022 (under Frankfurt-born head coach David Wagner) in a 3-1 over arch-rivals FC Basel.

“Aurèle Amenda is an exciting player with incredible skills," said Christoph Spycher, the former sport director who recently became board member for sport at Young Boys. “We want to make sure that he develops in a targeted way so that he can really blossom in our first team.”

Amenda’s real breakthrough came during the 2022/23 season, when he made 16 league appearances and four more in the cup, as the team went on to win the league-and-cup double.

Team of the Year 2023/24

The previous summer, the central defender was regarded as one to watch. Fast forward 12 months and Amenda has established himself among the elite, having been voted by the Swiss Football League and his fellow players into the Team of the Year at the Golden Player Awards 2023/24.

The job of man-marking the opposition’s main striker was thrust upon Amenda in the second half of the title-defence season last year, when experienced 32-year-old stopper Loris Benito went down with a ruptured cruciate ligament. The youngster rose to the challenge, featuring in 23 league matches as well as another four in the UEFA Champions League plus two in the subsequent Europa League campaign.

“He’s a player with real quality and who’s already gained a lot of experience, both in the Swiss League and the Champions League,” said a suitably excited Eintracht board member for sport Markus Krösche to EintrachtTV four months ago, when the deal was first announced. “He has all sorts of ability, he’s big, fast and technically solid. We’re delighted that he’ll be joining us in the summer.”

Inspired by Kobe

At the contract signing, Amenda described himself as “good in one-on-ones as well as on the ball. The main thing is, I always want to win, every match and even in training.” His sporting idol is not a fellow footballer but a basketball star. “My inspiration is Kobe Bryant,” he says of the NBA legend who shaped the world of basketball for more than two decades before being killed in a helicopter accident on 26 January 2020. “He started out every day with the aim of being better than the day before – I like that attitude.”

A hamstring injury means that rehab is the main priority for Amenda at the moment, and if all goes well, then he should be able to join his new team-mates for training in August. As such, he will miss a few weeks of Eintracht’s season, but with a contract that ties him to the club until 2029, the Swiss prodigy is here for five years, not just five weeks!