Borussia Mönchengladbach

Borussia Vfl 1900 e.V, often referred to as Borussia Mönchengladbach, is a German football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia. The team plays in the second division 2. Bundesliga and is one of the country's most well-known, best-supported, and successful teams. Borussia Mönchengladbach has more than 30,000 members and is the fourth largest club in Germany. "Borussia" is a Latinized form of Prussia, a popular term in naming German clubs.

1 History
1.1 Early history
1.2 Ascent to the Bundesliga
1.3 Borussia's Golden Decade
1.4 1980 and Beyond
2 Players
2.1 Current squad
2.2 Famous players
3 Honours
3.1 Players' Honours
4 Recent League Finishes
5 Trivia
6 External links
History

Early history
The club's forerunner was a loose association of young men known as FC Germania München-Gladbach from the city's Eicken district organized in late 1899. FC Borussia M.Gladbach was formally established on August 1, 1900 and took up play in the Rheinisch-Westfälischen Spielverband.
The new club made steady progress, moving upward through the different levels of league play and in 1912 appeared in the final of the Westdeutsche Verbandsliga, losing 2:4 to Kölner BC. In 1919, they joined Turnverein Germania 1889 to form Verein für Turn- und Rasensport 1889 München-Gladbach. The next year VfTuR made a second appearance in the final against Kölner BC, this time coming away with a 3:2 overtime victory. The next month they played their first game in a national championship playoffs, but did poorly, losing 0:7 to SpVgg Fürth in the opening round. In 1921, the footballers decided to leave Germania's gymnasts behind to form Borussia VfL München-Gladbach.
In 1933 the club formed a short-lived union with SC München-Gladbach to play as SC Borussia München-Gladbach until August 1934. SC Borussia qualified to play in the Gauliga Niederrhein , one of sixteen top-flight divisions established in 1933 in the re-organization of German footballunder the Third Reich. They played two more season at that level as VfL before being relegated to lower tier competition until moving up to the Oberliga West in 1952.

Ascent to the Bundesliga
In 1960 the club won its first major honours when they beat Karlsruher SC 3:2 in the final of the German Cup and the following year took on the now familiar name Borussia VfL Mönchengladbach. Further honours would be another decade in coming. Borussia's results in the ten years leading up to the formation of the Bundesliga in 1963 were not good enough to earn them admission into the ranks of the nation's new top flight professional league and so they played in the second tier Regionalliga West.
Mönchengladbach played their way into the Bundesliga in the 1965-66 season, alongside future powerhouse Bayern Munich. These two clubs would go on to a fierce struggle as they challenged each other for league supremacy throughout the 1970s. Bayern counted first, winning the Bundesliga championship in 1969. M'gladbach struck back immediately in the next season with a championship of their own and followed up with another one in 1971, becoming the first Bundesliga club ever to successfully defend their title.

Borussia's Golden Decade
Bayern then became the first club to win three consecutive titles with Borussia finishing only a point behind the champions in 1974. Die Fohlen were able to take some consolation in a 2:1 victory over 1. FC Köln in 1973 to win their second German Cup. 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. M'gladbach 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 titles to their credit. And although they would continue to be competitive for many years, success would be much harder to come by.

1980 and Beyond
Mönchengladbach's golden era ended in the 80's 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 stay on top. Even so, they managed to finish most seasons in the upper half of the league table and, in 1984, they were part of a four way race to the Bundesliga championship, finishing one point ahead of Bayern, and tied on points with Hamburg and champions Stuttgart, but behind on goal differential. That same season M'gladbach lost the German Cup final to Bayern on penalties.
The team's performance slipped significantly in the 90's and they found themselves struggling in the lower half of the Bundesliga table. They lost another German Cup on penalties – this time to Hanover – before winning their last honours to date with a 3-0 Cup win over Wolfsburg in 1995. Finally, in 1999, they were relegated to 2.Bundesliga where they would spend two seasons. The club's return performance in the Bundesliga was uninspired as they remained mired in the bottom half of the league.
In 2004, M'Gladbach hired Dick Advocaat, who had guided the Dutch national team to the semi-finals of the Euro 2004 tournament and was a successful manager at Rangers, as their new coach. He was unable to turn the team's fortunes and resigned in April the next 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 2006/2007 season legendary Mönchengladbach player and coach Jupp Heynckes was appointed as team coach.
Borussia has 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 2006/2007 season Borussia Mönchengladbach were relegated from the Bundesliga after Arminia Bielefeld upset Werder Bremen 3-2 while Borussia lost 1-0 at home to VfB Stuttgart.

Players

Current squad

GK
Christofer Heimeroth
2

MF
Sebastian Schachten
3

DF
Filip Daems
4

DF
Roel Brouwers
5

DF
Steve Gohouri
6

MF
Eugen Polanski
7

MF
Soumaila Coulibaly
8

MF
Sebastian Svärd
9

FW
Nando Rafael
10

MF
Sascha Rösler
11

MF
Marko Marin
13

DF
Alexander Voigt
14

FW
Sharbel Touma

FW
Rob Friend
17

MF
Patrick Paauwe
18

DF
Marvin Compper
19

GK
Frederic Löhe
20

DF
Kasper Bøgelund
21

GK
Uwe Gospodarek
22

DF
Tobias Levels
23

FW
Marcel Ndjeng
25

FW
Moses Lamidi
26

DF
Robert Fleßers
27

FW
Oliver Neuville (captain)
29

MF
Alexander Baumjohann
30

FW
Roberto Colautti

Famous players
Heinz Ditgens became the club's first international in 1936. Since then Borussia Mönchengladbach has sent over 30 players to the national team, many of these from their outstanding sides of the 1970s. The 1974 World Cup winning side included five "Foals" players.
In descending order, these are the club's foremost heroes:
Günter Netzer, the glamour footballer of the early 1970s, Euro 72 winner, later Real Madrid.
Jupp Heynckes, the club's most prolific goalscorer with 195 goals, Bundesliga all time 3rd
Berti Vogts, 96 caps, sturdy defender World Cup winner 1974
Allan Simonsen, "Danish Dynamite", 1977 European Footballer of the Year
Rainer Bonhof, versatile midfielder, World Cup winner 1974
Herbert Wimmer, infatiguable midfield flanker, winner Euro 72 & World Cup 1974
Albert Brülls, 1959 Borussia's first post-war international, 25 caps and two WC tournaments
Uli Stielike, classy midfielder, later Real Madrid.
Henning Jensen, another Danish explosive, later Real Madrid
Lothar Matthäus, started his Bundesliga career with Borussia, World Cup winner 1990
Stefan Effenberg, later Bayern Munich's Champions league winning captain.
Oliver Bierhoff, striker
Toni Polster, Austrian striker
Uwe Rahn
Marcell Jansen
Honorable mentions are also deserved by:
Dietmar Danner, Ludwig Müller, Dane Ulrik LeFevre, Damian Mori, Peter Dietrich, Michael Frontzeck, the one eyed Wilfried Hannes, Wolfgang Kleff, Horst Köppel, Herbert Laumen, Frank Mill, Oliver Neuville, Klaus Sieloff, Hartwig Bleidick, Kasey Keller.
(see also: List of Borussia Mönchengladbach players)

Honours
Borussia Mönchengladbach's five Bundesliga championships entitle the club to display two gold stars of the "Verdiente Meistervereine".
German Champions: 1970, 1971, 1975, 1976, 1977
German Cup: 1960, 1973, 1995
UEFA Cup: 1975, 1979

Players' Honours
Players of the club achieved the following honours:
Player of the Year - Europe
1977 Allan Simonsen
Player of the Year - Germany
1987 Uwe Rahn
1979 Berti Vogts
1973 Günter Netzer
1972 Günter Netzer
1971 Berti Vogts
Bundesliga Top-Scorers
1995 - 20 Goals - Heiko Herrlich (jointly with Mario Basler (Werder Bremen))
1987 - 24 Goals - Uwe Rahn
1975 - 29 Goals - Jupp Heynckes
1974 - 30 Goals - Jupp Heynckes (jointly with Gerd Müller (FC Bayern München))

Recent League Finishes
1984/85: 4th
1985/86: 4th
1986/87: 3rd
1987/88: 7th
1988/89: 6th
1989/90: 15th
1990/91: 9th
1991/92: 13th
1992/93: 9th
1993/94: 10th
1994/95: 5th (Qualified for Cup Winners' Cup)
1995/96: 4th (Qualified for UEFA Cup)
1996/97: 11th
1997/98: 15th
1998/99: 18th (Relegated to 2. Bundesliga)
1999/00: 5th in 2. Bundesliga
2000/01: 2nd in 2. Bundesliga (Promoted to 1. Bundesliga)
2001/02: 12th
2002/03: 12th
2003/04: 11th
2004/05: 15th
2005/06: 10th
2006/07: 18th (Relegated to 2. Bundesliga)

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
Borussia Mönchengladbach's name is attached to a number of Bundesliga records:
Mönchengladbach has a fearsome record when it comes to laying a drubbing on other teams. On April 29, 1978 they beat Borussia Dortmund (12:0), the biggest winning margin ever in league history, as well as the most goals scored by a single side in a match. The Dortmund coach, Otto Rehhagel, was not only immediately fired after the game, he got also the nickname "Torhagel" ("Goal hail"). They also hold second place in the category for beating Schalke 04 (11:0) on January 7, 1967, and third place for a pair of (10:0) victories over Eintracht Braunschweig on November 11, 1984 and Borussia Neunkirchen on November 4, 1967.
The most penalties in a match is 5 in a game played between M'gladbach and Dortmund on November 9, 1965.
In 1961, Borussia became the first German side in the Cup Winners' Cup. However, they got a proper hiding by Rangers FC of Glasgow in the quarterfinals with 0-3 and 0-8. The quarterfinals were the first round then.
On 20th October 1971 Borussia Mönchengladbach won 7:1 vs Inter Milan. Fortunately for Inter, an empty Coca-Cola tin can was thrown at Inter striker Roberto Boninsegna, who collapsed to the ground, supposedly hit by that tin (“Büchsenwurf vom Bökelberg”). Inter launched a protest against the result and the UEFA granted a re-match to be staged in Germany with Berlin's Olympiastadion chosen, which ended in a goalless draw.
Lothar Matthäus (surname derived from Greek “Matthew”) got the nickname “Judas” from the Borussia fans not only because of the biblical origin of his last name, but foremost because they consider him a traitor. He did not only leave for the arch rival Bayern München, but in his last game for Gladbach, which was the German Cup Final, he missed a penalty in the decisive shoot-out - against Bayern!
In 1997, Borussia Mönchengladbach played the first and only Reebok Cup ever held, being runner-ups and losing the final to champions Atletico Junior from Barranquilla (Colombia).
The official mascot of the club is the foal "Jünter".
German airline LTU has an A320 jet airplane dedicated to the team #.

External links
Official team site in German and English
The Abseits Guide to German Soccer
Borussia-Park the team's new stadium
Tactics and LineUps
Monchengladbach statistics
Borussia World
FohlenKommando