The club's full name is Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 Mönchengladbach but are usually known as Borussia Mönchengladbach or simply Gladbach.
Mönchengladbach is a town in the west of Germany, in North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of 260,000 inhabitants. The nearest really big town is Dusseldorf.
Their colours are White, Black and Green (the latter from the 1970's) and from 2004 play in Stadion im Borussia-Park with a capacity of 54,000. Until 2004 they played in the Bökelbergstadion (known as Westdeutsches Stadion in the 60's). This was a small ground so sometimes they had to play in nearby Dusseldorf.
They have various nicknames Die Fohlen (The Foals), Die Elf Vom Niederrhein (The team of the lower Rhine) and Die Mythen (The Legends).
They were founded in 1900 and for many years played in the lower German divisions. They had their first success in 1960-61 when they won the German Cup beating Karlsruhe 3-2. They then reached the quarter finals of the Cup Winners Cup.
In 1962 they had their first player participating in a World Cup, Albert Brülls in Cile 1962.
In 1964-65 Gladbach were promoted to the Bundesliga for the first time. The manager was Hennes Weisweiler, he would remain until 1975.
There followed some good years with 13th, 8th, 3rd and 3rd places and in 1969-70 Gladbach won their first league title. The stars were keeper Wolfgang Kleff, defenders Berti Vogts, Hartwig Bleidick, Ludwig Müller, Klaus -Dieter Sieloff, midfielders Günter Netzer, Peter Dietrich, Winfried Schäfer plus forwards Horst Köppel, Herbert Laumen and Herbert Wimmer. Top scorer was Laumen with 21 goals.
In 1970-71 they won the title again. Key new players were midfielder Rainer Bonhof and striker Jupp Heynckes (he would later have a great coaching career).
The 70's were Gladbach' s glory years. In 1971-72 they finished 3rd, in 1972-73, 5th but won the German Cup and reached the UEFA Cup final (losing 2-3 on aggregate to Liverpool), in 1973-74 2nd and reached the semi-finals of the Cup Winners Cup.
In the summer of 1974 five of their players won the World Cup with West Germany; Wolfgang Kleff, Herbert Wimmer, Berti Vogts, Rainer Bonhof and Jupp Heynckes while Netzer had already gone to Real Madrid.
In 1974-75 they won the league again and also won the UEFA Cup (Twente 5-1 on aggregate). Jupp Heynckes was top Bundesliga goal scorer.
In 1975-76 the Udo Lattek era started and they were confirmed as champions and then again in 1976-77, making it three in a row. In May 1977 they played the European Cup final in Rome against Liverpool but lost 1-3. I was present at the game in the Liverpool end and, despite not being a fan, I was supporting the Reds but was impressed by the German fans. One of their players, Danish Allan Simonsen won the Golden Ball that year.
In 1977-78 they finished 2nd and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup. They set a record winning score in the Bundesliga defeating Borussia Dortmund 12-0.
In 1978-79 they finished 10th but won the UEFA CUP again defeating Red Star Belgrade 2-1 on aggregate.
In 1979 Jupp Heynckes became manager and stayed until 1987. They finished 7th and were runners up in the UEFA Cup losing to compatriots Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals.
In the 1980's came a slight decline but they were still competitive with 6th, 7th, 12th, 3rd, 4th, 4th, 3rd, 7th, and 6th places. In 1987 Uwe Rahn was top Bundesliga goal scorer. In 1987 until 1989 Wolf Werner became manager.
The 90's saw Gladbach lose some of their strength. They finished 15th, 9th, 13th, 9th,10th, 5th,4th, 11th, 15th and in 1998-98 were relegated to Zweite Bundesliga (2nd tier). In these years however, in 1995, they won their third German Cup defeating Wolfsburg 3-0.
In 2000-01 Gladbach were promoted back to the Bundesliga, under manager Hans Meyer. They however struggled and after 12th, 12th, 11th, 15th and 10th places, in 2006-07 they were relegated again.
They bounced straight back up under Dutch manager Jos Luhukay and have been in the top flight ever since. Their best seasons were 4th in 2011-12, 3rd in 2014-15 and 4th in 2019-20. They have never fought for the title again but sometimes play in Europe (reached UCL last 16 in 2020-21) and are more often than not mid-table finishers.
Borussia Mönchengladbach are one of the most supported teams in Germany. A curious fact is that they have an official band, a punk rock group called B.O. The music at the stadium is almost exclusively theirs, as well as the supporters’ chants, so the fans are spared some of the awful commercial stuff that is blasted out in other stadiums.
The organised fans, the Fohlenfan, are twinned with Liverpool and also have special friendships with Mainz and Carl Zeiss Jena. Their sworn enemies are nearby Cologne and also Alemannia Aachen.
So, all in all one of the bigger German clubs. Gladbach are the only club, along with Borussia Dortmund, to have the two stars on their shirts for winning five league titles. Bayern Munich, the biggest club in Germany, have 5 stars but that's another story.
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