Borussia Mönchengladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach
Full name Borussia VfL 1900
Mönchengladbach e.V.
Nickname(s) Die Fohlen (The Foals)
Die Borussen (The Borussians)
Founded 1 August 1900 (1900-08-01)
Ground Stadion im Borussia-Park
Ground Capacity 54,057
President Rolf Königs
Head coach Dieter Hecking
League Bundesliga
2016–17 9th
Website Club website

Borussia VfL 1900 Mönchengladbach e.V., commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (pronounced [boˈʁʊsi̯aː mœnçn̩ˈɡlatbax]),[1][2] Mönchengladbach or Gladbach, is a German football club in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. Founded in 1900, Borussia Mönchengladbach play in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system, making their first appearance in the league during the 1965–66 season. Subsequently, the club became one of Germany's best-known, best-supported, and most successful teams, winning the Bundesliga five times during the 1970s.[3]

Since 2004, Borussia Mönchengladbach have played at the 54,057 capacity Borussia-Park, having previously played at the smaller Bökelbergstadion since 1919. Borussia-Park is famous for its "Nordkurve" (or North stand), a single-tiered stand. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 75,000 members as of April 2016 and is the fifth largest club in Germany.[4] Their main rivals are 1. FC Köln, who they compete against in the Rheinland Derby.[5]

"Borussia" is a Latinized form of Prussia, a popular term for German clubs in the former Kingdom of Prussia. The club's nickname is Die Fohlen [diː ˈfoːlən] ("The Foals"), coined in the 1970s due to having a young team with a fast, aggressive playing style. They also frequently refer to themselves as Die Fohlenelf ("The Foals' Eleven"), a nickname displayed on their shirts. The official mascot of the club is the foal Jünter.

History

Formation

Borussia Mönchengladbach was formed as FC Borussia in 1900 in the Eicken district of Mönchengladbach. The name "Borussia" derives from the Latinized form of Prussia, the kingdom in which the city of Mönchengladbach was situated from 1815. By 1912, Die Borussen found itself in the Verbandsliga, at the time the highest division the club could play in.

In March 1914, the club purchased De Kull, the ground on which the Bökelbergstadion would be built. The First World War halted the progress of both the stadium and FC Borussia, but by late 1917 the team had begun to play games once more. In 1919, FC Borussia merged with another local club, Turnverein Germania 1889, becoming 1899 VfTuR M.Gladbach. The club achieved its first major success in 1920, defeating Kölner BC 3–1 to win the Westdeutsche Meisterschaft final.

The union between Germania and Borussia only lasted a matter of two years; the club was thereafter known as Borussia VfL 1900 e.V. M.Gladbach.[6]

1933–1945: Football under the Third Reich

Following the rise of the Nazi Party to power in 1933, the German league system was reformed to consist of 16 Gauligen – Gladbach found themselves playing first in the Gauliga Niederrhein, and later in various Bezirksklassen (District Leagues). Also while under the Third Reich, Mönchengladbach's first ever international player was capped; Heinz Ditgens playing in a 9–0 win over Luxembourg for Germany in the 1936 Olympic Games. After the outbreak of World War II, play continued as usual, other than for the 1944–45 season.

Post War until 1959

Eventually, Mönchengladbach resumed play in June 1946, gaining successive promotions to the Landesliga Niederrhein (the regional second tier) in 1949 and the top flight, the Oberliga West, in 1950. Following many years of promotions and relegations, Borussia won their first Oberliga title in the 1958–59 season.

Ascent to the Bundesliga

Seasons 1959/60 – 1964/65
Season Position Goals For Goals Against Points Average Attendance
Oberliga West 1959–60 14 27 33 38 16,134
Oberliga West 1960–61 6 31 29 58 22,400
Oberliga West 1961–62 13 21 39 42 13,543
Oberliga West 1962–63 11 24 36 44 11,200
Regionalliga West 1963–64 8 41 35 71 12,000
Regionalliga West 1964–65 1 52 16 92 22,334
gold: promotion to the Bundesliga as Champions

In August 1960, Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated 1. FC Köln in the West German Cup. Weeks later, the club won the DFB-Pokal, clinching their first national honours after defeating Karlsruher SC 3–2 in the final. The following year, the club took on the now-familiar name Borussia VfL Mönchengladbach after the city of München-Gladbach became Mönchengladbach. However, further honours would have to wait a decade. Borussia's results in the ten years leading up to the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 were not strong enough to earn them admission into the ranks of the nation's new top flight professional league, and so the club played in the second tier, the Regionalliga West.

Mönchengladbach enjoyed its first taste of the Bundesliga in the 1965–66 season, earning promotion alongside future powerhouse Bayern Munich. The two clubs would go on to a fierce struggle as they challenged each other for domestic supremacy throughout the 1970s. Bayern took first blood in the struggle for supremacy between the two: winning the Bundesliga championship in 1969. Mönchengladbach struck back immediately in the next season with a championship of their own and followed up with a second title in 1971, becoming the first Bundesliga club ever to successfully defend their title.

1970s: Borussia's Golden Decade

Seasons 1969/70 – 1979/80
Season Position Goals For Goals Against Points Average Attendance
1969–70 First 71 29 51 25,645
1970–71 First 77 35 50 21,706
1971–72 Third 82 40 43 16,294
1979–80 Seventh 61 60 36 17,655
in green: winning the Bundesliga

Bayern Munich then became the first club to win three consecutive titles, with Borussia finishing only a point behind the champions in 1974. Die Fohlen was able to take some consolation in a 2–1 victory over 1. FC Köln in 1973 to win their second DFB-Pokal. Under coach Hennes Weisweiler, the young side displayed an offensive-minded philosophy and powerful play that attracted fans from all over Germany. The team stayed on the attack and matched Bayern's achievement with three consecutive titles of their own from 1975 to 1977. Mönchengladbach lost the 1977 final of the European Cup to Liverpool, but also made four appearances in the UEFA Cup with wins in 1975 and 1979 against losses in 1973 and 1980. The club's spectacular run had come to an end with eight trophies to their credit, and although they would continue to be competitive for many years, success would be much harder to come by.[3]

1980 and beyond

Borussia Mönchengladbach against Borussia Dortmund in April 2012

Mönchengladbach's golden era ended in the 1980s as the club had to sell many of its best players to keep its finances in order, and without talented coaches like Hennes Weisweiler and Udo Lattek, it was not possible to compete with Bayern Munich. Even so, they managed to finish most seasons in the upper half of the league table, and in 1984, Die Fohlen were part of a four way race to the Meisterschale – the Bundesliga championship – finishing one point ahead of Bayern, and tied on points with Hamburger SV and champions VfB Stuttgart, but behind on goal difference. In the same season, Mönchengladbach also lost the DFB-Pokal final to Bayern Munich on penalties, Lothar Matthäus and Norbert Ringels both missing from the spot after the game originally ended all square at 1–1. Matthäus subsequently joined Bayern Munich for a then-record fee of 2.25 million DM, leading some fans to question whether he had deliberately missed his penalty.[7]

The team's performance slipped significantly in the 1990s and Die Fohlen soon found themselves struggling in the lower half of the Bundesliga table. They lost another DFB-Pokal on penalties – this time to Hannover 96 — before winning their most recent trophy to date with a 3–0 DFB-Pokal win over VfL Wolfsburg in 1995. Finally, in 1999, Gladbach were relegated to 2. Bundesliga, where they would spend two seasons. Upon returning to the Bundesliga in 2001, Mönchengladbach remained uninspired as they continued to be mired in the bottom half of the league.

In 2004, Mönchengladbach appointed Dick Advocaat, who had guided the Netherlands national team to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2004 and was a successful manager at Rangers, as their new coach. However, Advocaat was unable to turn the team's fortunes and resigned in April of the following year. Former Mönchengladbach player and German international Horst Köppel was appointed caretaker for the remaining five fixtures of the season. Köppel had managed the club's reserves since leaving Borussia Dortmund in June 2004. For the 2006–07 season, legendary Mönchengladbach player and coach Jupp Heynckes was appointed as team coach.

Borussia had taken steps to improve their financial situation with the construction of a new state-of-the-art stadium called Borussia-Park with a permitted capacity of 59,771 spectators (limited to 54,067 for Bundesliga games and to 46,249 for international games). The club had long been hindered by playing in a much smaller and older facility (Bökelberg, capacity 34,500) and with the opening of the new stadium in 2004 can look forward to increased revenues through higher ticket sales and the ability to host lucrative international matches.

On the 31st matchday of the 2006–07 season, Borussia Mönchengladbach were relegated from the Bundesliga after fellow relegation fighters Arminia Bielefeld upset Werder Bremen 3–2 while Mönchengladbach lost 1–0 at home to VfB Stuttgart. They were promoted back to the Bundesliga on the 32nd match-day of the 2007–08 season after winning the match against SV Wehen 3–0.

Former manager Lucien Favre

Under coach Lucien Favre, who took over in January 2011, Borussia Mönchengladbach has in recent years shown ambitions to re-establish themselves in the top regions of the Bundesliga. In the 2010–11 season, after a disastrous first half of the season, Borussia Mönchengladbach managed to narrowly avoid relegation through the post-season relegation play-offs. The following season, 2011–12, followed this up with a strong season in which they were for much of the year in contention for the championship and eventually finished in fourth place. They missed out on qualification to the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League after losing 4–3 on aggregate to Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv in the playoff round. During the 2012–13 Bundesliga season, after losing some key players, notably Marco Reus who was voted player of the year in the Bundesliga in the previous season, Borussia Mönchengladbach still contended for the international places until the last match day, eventually finishing in eighth place.

In the 2013–14 Bundesliga season, they had another very successful year, achieving an excellent third-place after the first half of the season and finishing the season in sixth place, entering them into the 2014–15 Europa League competition at the play-off stage. They finished the 2014–15 Bundesliga season in third place, saving the club a place for direct qualification to the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage. The club found itself in a tough group[8] together with Juventus, Manchester City and Sevilla and although they finished bottom of the group, they claimed a respectable points tally of five, claiming draws home and away against Juventus and defeating eventual Europa League winners Sevilla 4–2 at home.

After a poor start to the 2015–16 Bundesliga season, including five defeats, Lucien Favre surprisingly resigned[9] and was replaced with André Schubert as interim coach. The club's fortunes immediately changed, as it won six-straight Bundesliga matches and eventually finishing the season in fourth position, earning qualification to the Champions League for a second successive season.

In the 2016–17 season, Borussia drew a difficult group in the Champions League, but managed to finish in third place above Celtic and qualify for the UEFA Europa League knockout phase. However, after a promising start in the Bundesliga, the club experienced a poor run of form exacerbated by injuries, and had dropped to the 14th position by the winter break. As a result, André Schubert resigned and was replaced by ex-VfL Wolfsburg manager Dieter Hecking. Hecking began with three wins in four Bundesliga matches as Borussia rose to ninth place and also earned a place in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal.

Former head coaches

Borussia Mönchengladbach coaching history from 1946 to present

Sponsors

Year Shirt Sponsor Branch
1976–1980 Erdgas Energy/Natural gas
1980–1983 Datsun Cars
1983–1990 Erdgas Energy/Natural gas
1990–1992 Tuborg Brewery
1992–1994 Trigema Sportswear
1994–1997 Diebels Brewery
1997–2002 Belinea Hardware
2002–2005 Jever Brewery
2005–2009 Kyocera Electronics and ceramics
2009– Postbank Retail banking

Kit Manufacturers

Year Kit Manufacturer
1976–1992 Puma
1992–1995 Asics
1995–2003 Reebok
2003–2013 Lotto
2013– Kappa

*According to the deals terms, MyBet branding will have a visible spot on a 47-thousand Borussia Park Stadium and on the team bus, which is also being promoted on TV channels, press and social media.[11]

Players

Monument to legendary trinity of Borussia — Herbert Wimmer, Berti Vogts and Günter Netzer (from left to right). Placed in the pedestrian zone of Mönchengladbach (Germany).

Current squad

As of 16 July 2017 [12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
1 Switzerland GK Yann Sommer
3 England DF Reece Oxford (on loan from West Ham United)
4 Denmark DF Jannik Vestergaard
5 Germany MF Tobias Strobl
6 Germany MF Christoph Kramer
7 Germany MF Patrick Herrmann
8 Switzerland MF Denis Zakaria
10 Belgium FW Thorgan Hazard
11 Brazil FW Raffael
13 Germany FW Lars Stindl (Captain)
16 Guinea MF Ibrahima Traoré
17 Sweden DF Oscar Wendt (Vice-captain)
18 Switzerland FW Josip Drmić
19 United States MF Fabian Johnson
No. Position Player
20 Paraguay FW Julio Villalba
21 Germany GK Tobias Sippel
22 Slovakia MF László Bénes
23 Germany MF Jonas Hofmann
24 Germany DF Tony Jantschke
25 France DF Timothée Kolodziejczak
27 France MF Mickaël Cuisance
28 Germany DF Matthias Ginter
29 France DF Mamadou Doucouré
30 Switzerland DF Nico Elvedi
31 Germany FW Ba-Muaka Simakala
32 Italy MF Vincenzo Grifo
33 Germany GK Christofer Heimeroth
35 Germany GK Moritz Nicolas

Retired numbers

Loans

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player
- Germany MF Florian Neuhaus (Fortuna Düsseldorf)[13]
26 Germany MF Tsiy William Ndenge (Roda Kerkrade)[14]

Coaching and backroom staff

Role Nation Name
Head coach  Germany Dieter Hecking
Assistant coach  Germany Dirk Bremser
Assistant coach  Germany Frank Geideck
Goalkeeping coach  Germany Uwe Kamps
Team doctor and orthopedic surgeon  Germany Dr. Stefan Hertl
Team doctor  Germany Dr. Heribert Ditzel
Team doctor and orthopedic surgeon  Germany Dr. Stefan Porten
Athletic trainer  Germany Alexander Mouhcine
Physiotherapist  Germany Andreas Bluhm
Physiotherapist  Germany Dirk Müller
Physiotherapist  Poland Adam Szordykowski

UEFA club rankings

As of 18 July 2017 [15]
Rank Team
31 Greece Olympiacos 53.740
32 Belgium RSC Anderlecht 53.340
33 Germany VfL Wolfsburg 52.656
34 Turkey Beşiktaş 47.960
35 England Liverpool 44.363
36 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach 41.656
37 Ukraine FC Dnipro 40.786
38 Netherlands Eindhoven 40.549
39 Austria Salzburg 39.270
40 Czech Republic Sparta Prague 38.475

Honours

Borussia Mönchengladbach's five Bundesliga championships entitle the club to display two gold stars of the "Verdiente Meistervereine".

Domestic

Bundesliga:

2. Bundesliga:

DFB-Pokal:

German Supercup:

European

European Cup:

UEFA Cup:

International

Intercontinental Cup:

Youth

German Under 17 Champions:

Under 17 Bundesliga West

Double

Records and statistics

Only for Bundesliga

Most appearances

# Name Matches
1° Germany Berti Vogts 419
2° Germany Uwe Kamps 390
3° Germany Herbert Wimmer 366
4° Germany Christian Hochstätter 339
5° Germany Hans-Günter Bruns 331
6° Germany Wolfgang Kleff 321
7° Germany Hans-Jörg Criens 290
8° Germany Jupp Heynckes 283
9° Germany Michael Klinkert 274
10° Germany Martin Schneider 266

Top scorers

# Name Goals
1° Germany Jupp Heynckes 195
2° Germany Herbert Laumen 97
3° Germany Hans-Jörg Criens 92
4° Germany Günter Netzer 82
5° Germany Uwe Rahn 81
6° Denmark Allan Simonsen 76
7° Germany Frank Mill 71
8° Germany Hans-Günter Bruns 61
9° Sweden Martin Dahlin 60
10° Germany Wilfried Hannes 58

Players' honours

For a list of every Borussia Mönchengladbach player with 50 or more appearances, see List of Borussia Mönchengladbach players

Players of the club achieved the following honours:

Player of the Year – Europe
Player of the Year – Germany
Player of the Year – Australia
Player of the Year – Austria
Player of the Year – Belgium
Player of the Year – Denmark
Player of the Year – Sweden
Player of the Year – USA
Bundesliga Top-Scorers
Goal of the Year
Goal of the Season

References

  1. ↑ Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 383 and 753. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
  2. ↑ Mangold, Max (2005). Das Aussprachewörterbuch (in German) (6th ed.). Mannheim: Dudenverlag. pp. 212 and 560. ISBN 9783411040667.
  3. 1 2 News – Bundesliga – official website Archived 18 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. Bundesliga.de.
  4. ↑ "Borussia hat jetzt 75.000 Mitglieder". RP Online.
  5. ↑ "Rhineland derby double interview: Yann Sommer and Timo Horn - bundesliga.com". Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  6. ↑ Classic club. FIFA.com.
  7. ↑ Lothar Matthäus und der Fehlschuss: Gladbachs bitterster Pokal-Moment. Sport.t-online.de.
  8. ↑ "UEFA Champions League - Standings — UEFA.com". Retrieved 12 October 2015.
  9. ↑ "Lucien Favre Resigns". Retrieved 20 September 2015.
  10. ↑ "Borussias Trainer" (in German). borussia.de.
  11. ↑ Ratingbet.net. "Official Sponsor of Borussia M. for 2017-2019". Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  12. ↑ "Squad – Borussia Mönchengladbach". borussia.de. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
  13. ↑ Borussia signs Neuhaus (in German)
  14. ↑ [https://www.borussia.de/de/aktuelles-termine/news/borussia-news/news-detailansicht.html?tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=26786&cHash=4bb78f2ba93c9f7f9721067fc6293b83 Ndenge joins Kerkrade on loan (in German)
  15. ↑ Bert Kassies. "UEFA Team Ranking 2016". Retrieved 29 December 2015.

Literature

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