Borussia Mönchengladbach

History

1899–1905: Formation

In November 1899, a group of discontented members left their sports association, TC Germania Gladbach (referred to as "Teutonia Gladbach" in some sources). On 17 November 1899, thirteen of these young men formed a new club, this time specifically focused on association football, in the Zum Jägerhof pub. They chose the word Borussia (Latin: "Prussia") as their association's new title, although this was not yet the club's official founding. Borussia was chosen because Mönchengladbach was located in the western provinces awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia as part of the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Other notable football clubs in western Germany that chose the name "Prussia" as their title include Borussia Dortmund in 1909 and SC Preußen Münster in 1906.Borussia's early years were faced with the problems typical for association football teams in the German Empire: the sport, only recently imported from the UK in the 1880s, was not yet institutionally accepted, and as a result there were logistical shortages of football fields, goals, changing rooms, and player equipment. Borussia's players initially had to finance their own gear for what was at the time a considerable financial expenditure for working-class people.

Borussia was the second dedicated football club in the city of Mönchengladbach. FC Mönchengladbach, founded six years earlier in 1894, quickly became Borussia's first rival. Whereas FC Mönchengladbach was socially and financially established, young Borussia found it difficult to guarantee regular access to training grounds and equipment. As a result, the team joined the Marianische Jünglings-Kongregation Mönchengladbach Eicken (German: "Marian Youth Congregation Mönchengladbach Eicken"), a conservative Catholic sporting association. Within this larger organization, the footballers reformed into the Fussball Club Borussia 1900 on 1 August 1900, marking the club's official founding date.

From within the congregation, Borussia was able to more effectively organize official games against various opposing teams. The team scored 2–1 victories over both Blitz Neuwerk and Germania Mönchengladbach, and a 4–2 victory over Rheydt FC. As early as 1902, Borussia crossed international borders for the first time, losing 0–2 against Helmondia Helmond in the Netherlands, before playing the Dutch team to a 1–1 draw at home.

The appeal of both association football in general and Borussia in particular caused tensions with the conservative ideology of the Youth Congregation; the practice of football players wearing shorts instead of long trousers and the reality of football practice on Sundays hindering Church attendance created tension between Borussia and the Youth Congregation Eicken, and Borussia ultimately left the congregation on 24 May 1903.

1905–1914: Before the First World War

After some decent athletic success in the year 1905 (18 games, 12 wins, 1 draw, 5 losses), Borussia nonetheless faced frustration, as the playing grounds were judged insufficient for competition play. The team was subsequently excluded from major competitions until a more appropriate locale could be found.

Ultimately, Borussia acquired a patch of land on Reyerhütterstraße in Mönchengladbach to enable organized play, at a time when the growing spread of football made it more and more of a hassle in terms of property damage and noise pollution. By achieving access to its own football grounds, Borussia thus evaded the growing number of police actions that were launched to call football enthusiasts to order. Regular play continued, after more than a year of absence, in the second class of the second district, against teams like FC Mönchengladbach II, FC Eintracht Mönchengladbach and various teams from Düsseldorf and Krefeld, among others. After a 2–0 against Rheydt and two victories over Düsseldorf teams (4–1 against Britannia Düsseldorf, 4–1 against Union Düsseldorf), the first home game was held in Reyerhütterstraße against Preußen Krefeld. Borussia won the game with two goals difference.

At the end of the competition, Borussia was district champion, with eight wins in eight games (although Borussia had lost a 0–2 game against FC Mönchengladbach II that was subsequently annulled when FC Mönchengladbach II was disqualified from the competition), with 25 goals scored and only 8 conceded. But Borussia was skipped for promotion regardless; the club was once again assigned to the second class (now called B-Klasse) as a result of a league reform.

In 1907, Borussia left Reyerhütterstraße, where a new factory was under construction, and reached a deal with Gladbacher Turnverein 1848 to cooperatively run a ground near the Schweizerhaus, a famous gastronomy in the vicinity of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Halle. Games at the new grounds go well, with a 5–1 win over Borussia Köln, which had inflicted a painful 0–11 loss on Borussia in 1903, as well as a 5–3 against Rheydt. The season as a whole was mediocre for Borussia, ending with five wins, four losses and a draw at 19 goals scored and 13 conceded in third place. Borussia qualified for a promotion tournament to determine the team to be promoted to A class, but lost 0–6 to Viktoria Mönchengladbach.

1914–1918: First World War

In March 1914, the club purchased De Kull, a decommissioned gravel pit and the grounds on which the later Bökelbergstadion would be built. The First World War halted the progress of both the stadium and football in general, as many players volunteered or were drafted for military service. With rapidly changing player lineups, Borussia contested the war cup (German: Kriegspokal), beating Düren 7–0. In total, Borussia played 18 games in the 1914–15 season, in spite of the logistical difficulties caused by the war.

In time for the 1915–16 season, it had become clear that the war, initially anticipated by all sides to conclude quickly, would last longer than expected. Regardless, Borussia was able to assemble a functional team for the season (reinforced regularly by players on vacation from frontline duty), and played games against Union Krefeld, Viktoria Rheydt, Konstantia Kaldenkirchen, VfB Krefeld, FC Mönchengladbach and Eintracht Mönchengladbach. After a shaky start, including a 1–4 friendly game loss to Borussia Düsseldorf, Borussia found its footing in the league, and briefly rivalled Krefeld for the first place in January 1916. Ultimately, Borussia finished second in the league. By mid-1916, Borussia was forced to cease regular play due to the lack of regularly available players. By 4 November 1916, even the provisional club leadership had to cease operations, as too many of its members were called up for military service.

Borussia suffered several losses due to war casualties: The club's chairman since 1912, Heinz Körstgens, was killed in action in 1915, as was Stephan Ditgens, Borussia player and uncle of Borussia's first ever Germany national team player, Heinz Ditgens.

1918–1933: During the Weimar Republic

In the immediate aftermath of the military armistice of 11 November 1918, football clubs all over Germany began to gradually resume operations. Members of Borussia had informal meetings about the resumption of play even during the last months of the war, as early as mid-1918. The first recorded game of this phase was a 5–0 over Rheydt SV on 15 August 1918, followed by the turnaround in the form of a 2–7 thrashing at the hands of Rheydt SV in the return fixture a week later. The aftermath of the war interrupted the blossoming football of 1918–19, as only seven of Borussia's 14 planned games were held due to the occupation of the region by the Belgian Armed Forces.

The decades-long struggle to find a usable locale to play continued, as De Kull was not yet ready to be used. By early 1919, the team returned to Schweizerhaus as a temporary measure. On 15 March 1919, FC Borussia merged with another local club, Turnverein Germania 1889, becoming 1889 VfTuR M.Gladbach. The club achieved its first major success in 1920, defeating Kölner BC 3–1 to win the 1920–1921 West German championship 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.

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.

1945–1959: Rebuild after War

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.

1959–1965: Promotion to the Bundesliga

In August 1960, Borussia Mönchengladbach defeated 1. FC Köln in the West German Cup. Weeks later, the club won the DFB-Pokal, a first national honour, after defeating Karlsruher SC 3–2 in the final. Borussia therefore qualified for the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1960–61, where they were defeated 11–0 on aggregate by the Scottish club, Rangers. Rangers won 3–0 in Germany and 8–0 in Glasgow.

The following year, the club took on the now-familiar name Borussia VfL Mönchengladbach after the city of München-Gladbach became Mönchengladbach.

The 1961–62 season in the Oberliga ended again with Borussia in 13th place in the table. In 1962–63, the club hoped in vain to join the circle of DFB clubs which would start the following year in the newly founded Bundesliga. Helmut Beyer, who remained in office for 30 years, took over the responsibility of president that season and Helmut Grashoff took over as second chairman. In July 1962, Borussia signed Fritz Langner, who had won the West German championship in 1959 with Westfalia Herne, as their new coach. To Langner's chagrin, the new leadership sold Albert Brüllsfor a record fee of 250,000 DM to FC Modena in Italy in order to rehabilitate the club financially. Helmut Grashoff, who collected the fee in Italian lira in cash in a suitcase, later said he had feared, after the money transfer, "being thought a bank robber". The proceeds from the transfer enabled Langner to rebuild the squad with the signing of players like Heinz Lowin, Heinz Crawatzo and Siegfried Burkhardt. That year, the A-Youth team won the West German championship with a squad that included future professional footballers, Jupp Heynckes and Herbert Laumen.

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.

In the next season, 1964–65, the club signed the youngsters, Jupp Heynckes and Bernd Rupp, and some of the youth team joined the professional squad. Their average age of 21.5 years was the lowest of all regional league teams. They earned the nickname "foals" due to their low average age as well as their carefree and successful play. Reporter Wilhelm August Hurtmanns coined the nickname in his articles in the Rheinische Post. He was taken with the style of Borussia and wrote that they would play like young foals. By April 1965, the team had won the Regionalliga West and thus secured the participation in the Bundesliga promotion round in Group 1. This saw the team play against the competitors of Wormatia Worms (Second in the Regionalliga Südwest), SSV Reutlingen (Second in the Regionalliga Süd) and Holstein Kiel (Champions in the Regionalliga Nord) in first and second matches. Of the six games Borussia won three (5–1 in Worms, 1–0 against Kiel and 7–0 against Reutlingen). The achievement of the first place made promotion to the Bundesliga safe. Together with Borussia Bayern Munich rose by winning Group 2.

1965–1969: Early years in Bundesliga and struggles

The commitment of Weisweiler as coach pointed the way for the sporting success of the club in the Bundesliga. The economic situation of the club did not allow to finance a team of stars. Weisweiler corresponded to the needs of the association with his attitude to promote the education and development of young talents. He pressed Players not in a fixed game system, but promoted individualism and gave them considerable freedom on the field. This resulted in a carefree and offensive style of playing, the hallmark of Fohlenelf.

The club signed with Berti Vogts and Heinz Wittmann, both players whose names should be closely linked to the sporting successes of Borussia.

The first Bundesliga match in the 1965–66 season took place away against Borussia Neunkirchen and ended 1–1, the first Bundesliga goal scorer was Gerhard Elfert. The first home game against SC Tasmania 1900 Berlin Borussia won 5–0. Weisweiler knew how to give the team tactical freedom and to promote the individual enthusiasm of the players. These freedoms cost the still immature team in the first Bundesliga season with a number of sometimes high defeats. The Borussia finished the first season in the Bundesliga on the 13th place in the table.

In the following season 1966–67 showed the scoring power of the Mönchengladbacher team, which scored 70 goals. The striker Herbert Laumen scored 18, Bernd Rupp 16 and Jupp Heynckes scored 14 goals. Due to the good goal difference, the team was able to complete the season on the eighth place in the table. With an 11–0 home win over FC Schalke 04 on Matchday 18, the team celebrated the first highest ever victory in Bundesliga history.

The successes had the side effect that the salaries of the players jumped up and thus good players were not easy to hold onto. Jupp Heynckes moved for the former record transfer fee of 275,000 DM to Hannover 96, Bernd Rupp moved to SV Werder Bremen, and Eintracht Braunschweig signed Gerhard Elfert. The club bought Peter Meyer and Peter Dietrich and thus compensated for the departure of seasoned players. With a 10–0 win on the twelfth match-day of the season 1967–68 over Borussia Neunkirchen, the team showed again their scoring power. The team reached in this and the next season third place in the table. The club signed in the season 1968–69 their future coach Horst Köppel, who had already had first experiences in the national team, and from hitherto unknown amateur VfL Schwerte the then long-time goalkeeper Wolfgang Kleff and Hartwig Bleidick, Gerd Zimmermann and Winfried Schäfer, who played ten seasons at Borussia.

1970–1980: Golden decade; dominance in the league and successes in Europe

The 1970s went down as the most successful in the club's history.

Under coach Hennes Weisweiler, the young side adopted an offensive style of play that attracted attention from fans from across Germany.

During this period, Borussia won the championship five times, more than any other club in that era. At the same time, a rivalry developed with FC Bayern Munich, as both clubs were promoted to the Bundesliga in 1965.

After the club had twice finished third in previous years, Hennes Weisweiler in the 1969–70 season coached especially the defence. Deviating from the "foal" concept, Borussia bought for the first time experienced defensive players like Luggi Müller and Klaus-Dieter Sieloff. With Ulrik le Fevre the club signed their first Danish player, later followed by Henning Jensen and Allan Simonsen. This season saw the first Bundesliga victory over Bayern. After a 5–1 win over Alemannia Aachen on 31 October 1969, Borussia topped the Bundesliga for the first time. Today (as of December 2018) Borussia takes third place in the list of league leaders in the Bundesliga behind Bayern and Dortmund.

On 30 April 1970, with a home win against Hamburger SV in the 33rd Round of the season, Borussia were named as champions.

On 16 September 1970, Herbert Laumen scored the first goal for Borussia in European club football in the 6–0 win against EPA Larnaca. The first round of the following season 1970–71 saw only one defeat for the club. In the history of the Bundesliga unique is an incident in the home game of the 27th matchday against Werder Bremen, known as the post break from Bökelberg. In the game on 3 April 1971, after a penalty area scene in the 88th minute, the striker Herbert Laumen overturned the left goal post after a head clash with the Bremen goalkeeper Günter Bernardinto. After unsuccessful attempts of repair, as no replacement goal could be set up, the referee stopped the game at the score of 1–1. The DFB sports court in Frankfurt rated the game as a 2–0 win for Bremen. As a consequence, the DFB obliged the clubs to provide a replacement for both goals. The championship was decided only on the last match day as a head-to-head race with Bayern Munich. Nine weeks after the post-break game, on 5 June 1971, Borussia were the first side in the history of the Bundesliga to defend their championship title, with a victory at Eintracht Frankfurt.

1980–1996: Slowdown

In the 1980s, Borussia Moenchengladbach could no longer build on the titles they accumulated in the past decade and fell behind Bayern Munich. Due to the lack of ticket revenue from the small Bökelbergstadion, the club had to sell top performers repeatedly. Nevertheless, it was possible to settle frequently in the upper third of the Bundesliga and play in the championship fight. In the 1980–81 season, many long-time players left the club, including Karl Del'Haye, the first player signed by Bayern with hostile intent. Borussia committed with Wolfram Wuttke only to striking players. They replaced Wolfgang Kleff in goal to Uli Sude. The team reached this season's sixth place in the table. The sporting record did not improve in the following two seasons. With a seventh-place finish in 1982, Borussia missed participation in European competitions. The following year, Uwe Kamps guarded the goal for the first time, eventually becoming a key player.

In the 1983–84 season, Borussia contested the title. With Bernd Krauss, Michael Frontzeck and Uli Borowka, Borussia committed players who played for a long time successfully for the club. In the end, they landed tied behind VfB Stuttgart and Hamburger SV in third place. It was the first time in the history of the Bundesliga that three clubs tied the table on the last matchday. 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 for a then-record fee of 2.25 million DM, leading some fans to question whether he had deliberately missed his penalty.

In the 1984–85 season, Borussia won 10–0 on Matchday 8 against Eintracht Braunschweig, which is so far the last two-digit victory in Bundesliga history. In the semi-finals of the German Cup VfL met again at Bayern Munich. After no goals had been scored in the regular season in Munich's Olympiastadion, Søren Lerby converted a penalty kick against Borussia goalkeeper Ulrich Sude in the 101st minute. This remained the only goal of the evening, so that Borussia missed the entry into the final.

The season 1985–86 brought no sporting highlights in the Bundesliga, with the club finishing fourth. Borussia Mönchengladbach gave away a 5–1 win over Real Madrid on 27 November 1985 in Düsseldorf (11 December 1985), when the club lost 4–0 in Madrid and dropped out of the UEFA Cup.

1996–2010: Firm decline and new stadium

The team's performance slipped in the 1990s and Die Fohlen soon found themselves struggling in the lower half of the Bundesliga table.

After the first round of the 1996–97 season, Borussia finished 17th place in the table. The club dismissed coach Krauss due to the sporting failure. At the end of the season, the Mönchengladbacher were in eleventh place. None of the other four coaches who followed Krauss remained in office for more than a year. Under Friedel Rausch, Borussia could only remain in the Bundesliga after a dramatic season finale in 1998. Before the last matchday, the Borussia were three points above the relegation zone. On the final day of the season, they managed a 2–0 away win at VfL Wolfsburg; Karlsruher SC lost to Hansa Rostock and went down due to the worse goal difference.

In the international arena, the season was disappointing despite two victories in the first round of the UEFA Cup against Arsenal. Borussia lost in the second round of the first leg 2–4 against Monaco, the most recent victory Borussia reached with a 1–0 in Monaco, but were eliminated from the competition. In the 1998–99 season, Borussia won 3–0 against Schalke 04 on Matchday 1 and was at the top of the table for the first time in 13 years. As a result, the team suffered six losses and two draws, resulting them to stand on the ninth day at the bottom of the table. On the tenth and eleventh round followed by a 2:8 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen and a 1:7 at VfL Wolfsburg, two consecutive heavy defeats. The team remained until the end of the season in 18th place. After a total of 21 lost games, the consequence was the first relegation from the Bundesliga. As a consequence of the relegation, several top performers, including goalkeeper Robert Enke, defender Patrik Andersson, and midfielder Karlheinz Pflipsen and Sebastian Deisler all left the club.

Finally, in 1999, Gladbach were relegated to 2. Bundesliga, where they would spend two seasons. Upon returning to the Bundesliga in 2001, Mönchengladbach continued to be in the bottom half of the league.

The first season in the 2. Bundesliga started the same way as the previous one ended. In the DFB Cup, the team were knocked out early after a lost penalty shootout against the regional league SC Verl. The second division season 1999–2000 ended the Borussia despite a bad first round still in fifth place in the table. Four points were missing for direct promotion.

2010–2017: Revival

For the 110th anniversary of the club, the club brought out a DVD on which the club's story is told in a 110-minute film. On 28 July 2010, it was premiered in a cinema in Mönchengladbach.

In the 2010–11 DFB Cup, for the first time after five years the round of 16 was reached. In the Bundesliga, they succeeded after 16 years in getting the first victory against Bayer Leverkusen, but at the end of the preliminary round, the club were in last place.

Due to the seasonally poor athletic performance, a merger of leaders from the local economy founded the initiative Borussia, which accused the club management of mismanagement. According to the initiative, the old, encrusted structures should be dissolved in order to give Borussia a future. So the money should be invested in the sport rather than in the planned museum complex with attached hotel. At the 2011 Annual General Meeting, only 335 of the 4769 members present voted in favour of the initiative's goals.

At the Bundesliga home game against Mainz 05, Marco Reus scored the 2500th Bundesliga goal in the 1445th game. Other Jubiläumstorschützen were Jupp Heynckes (500), Carsten Nielsen (1000), Uwe Rahn (1500) and Martin Dahlin (2000).

The first newcomer in the winter break was the free transfer of striker Mike Hanke of Hannover 96. The defence was reinforced with Håvard Nordtveit and Martin Stranzl. On 13 February 2011, Michael Frontzeck was dismissed due to continued failure as a coach. Decisive were defeats against the direct relegation competitors VfB Stuttgart and FC St. Pauli. Lucien Favre was hired as the new head coach. After the team had been in the last place in the table until the 30th match day, they achieved three consecutive wins and reached 16th place after a 1–1 draw at the last game day, which allowed one last chance to remain in the league. Borussia competed in two relegation matches against the second league team VfL Bochum and were able to prevent relegation with a 1–0 at home and a 1–1 draw in Bochum.

Under 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.

2017–2021/22: Ascent to the top half of the table

A new record transfer was made by the club for the season. For the German international and world champion Matthias Ginter, the club transferred 17 million euros plus bonus payments to Borussia Dortmund.

In the ninth edition of the Telekom Cup, Borussia had as early as January of the same year again to be content with the fourth and last place after a defeat on penalties against Werder Bremen and against 1899 Hoffenheim. The first round of the DFB Cup 2017–18 was able to make Borussia victorious. The VfL won the West duel against Rot-Weiss Essen 2–1. In the league prelude, the Fohlenelf kept by a goal of Nico Elvedi 1–0 in the Rheinland derby against 1. FC Köln the upper hand and "overwintered" after a final 3–1 home win against Hamburger SV to half-time as sixth with 28 points from eight wins, four draws and five defeats. In the DFB Cup Borussia were eliminated on 20 December 2017 in the last competitive game of the year after a 0–1 defeat in the second round against Bayer Leverkusen in the Borussia-Park at home, after the "Werkself" had already on the 9th matchday of the Bundesliga at the same place won 5–1. The second round match failed; the decisive goal to 1–2 defeat at 1. FC Köln fell in the fifth minute of stoppage time. By contrast, the financial data in the 2017 financial year was more positive. Despite a lack of participation in international competitions, the association posted the second-best result in its history with a turnover of 179.3 million euros and a profit after tax of 6.56 million euros after the record year 2016. The 2017–18 season ended for Borussia after a 1–2 defeat at Hamburger SV left them in ninth place and thus missed, as in the previous year, the qualification for the European competitions. The game was also the last for Hamburg in the highest German league after 55 years of uninterrupted affiliation.

In July 2018, the French striker Alassane Pléa from Nice arrived for the record sum of 23 million euros. In the first round of the 2018–19 DFB-Pokal, Mönchengladbach defeated BSC Hastedt 11–1. Thus, Borussia surpassed the previous record, which had been set by the club in an 8–0 victory in the away game at 1. FC Viersen in the first round of the 1977–78 DFB-Pokal.

In the 2019–20 Bundesliga, Mönchengladbach started the season well, and was on top of the league in December 2019, after defeating Bayern Munich 2–1. However, a shaky run of results in the second half of the season meant they ultimately finished in fourth place, 17 points behind champions Bayern. Mönchengladbach thus qualified for the UEFA Champions League, and were drawn against Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Shakhtar Donetsk. In Marco Rose´s second year in charge during the 2020/21 season, Gladbach achieved their largest win in the Champions League with a 6–0 win over Shakhtar Donetsk, with Alassane Pléa scoring a hat-trick. They advanced to the knockout stage (for the first time in the modern era) after finishing second place in Group B, but were ultimately knocked out in the round of 16 by Manchester City. However, following the announcement in February 2021 that Rose would leave to join Borussia Dortmund at the end of the campaign, the team suffered a dip in domestic form and ultimately finished eighth in the Bundesliga.

2022- present: Decline in form

Daniel Farke subsequently took charge for the 2022-23 season, but was dismissed after one year following another tenth-place finish that concluded an inconsistent season. Ahead of the 2023/24 season, Gerardo Seoane took over as manager during a major squad overhaul that saw long-serving core players leave the club, including Yann Sommer, Marcus Thuram, Lars Stindl, Ramy Bensebaini and Jonas Hofmann. Under Seoane, Gladbach experienced a drop in domestic form, finishing 14th in the 2023/24 season before recovering to 10th in the following 2024/2025 season. Following a poor start to the 2025/26 season, Seoane was dismissed in September 2025 and replaced by former U23 coach Eugen Polanski, who led the team to a 12th-place finish and was permanently confirmed in the role ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.

Club culture

Songs

The official club anthem is the song The Eleven of the Lower Rhine, which is sung before every home game. The song was recorded by the group BO, the band of the fan project.

Fan culture

In addition to celebrity fans like Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang Thierse, Sven Ottke, Kai Ebel, Mickie Krause, Matthias Opdenhövel, Peer Steinbrück, Stefan Gaede and Hannelore Kraft, there are fan clubs in many countries, as far as California, South Africa and New Zealand.

A known fan group of the club were "Steinwegs Mamm", who provided the drum in the 1960s for the team, and Ethem Özenrenler, known by his nickname "Manolo", who beat the drum in the northern curve of the Bökelberg Stadium for over 25 years since 1977.

Friendships

After the DFB Cup match against the Mainz 05 on 25 October 1994, a 6–4 win for Mönchengladbach, a fan friendship developed between Mainz and Borussia, which is now maintained by only a few supporters.

On the other hand, there is a long friendship with Liverpool, which comes from the time both teams regularly met in international games.

Fans of Borussia travel to Liverpool at regular intervals to watch local Reds games. Conversely, followers from Liverpool still use a visit to Mönchengladbach to symbolise the mutual fan friendship of both clubs.

The fans of Mönchengladbach collected 21,000 DM for the families of the 96 dead in the stadium disaster in Sheffield (1989) and presented it to Liverpool in 1991 in Mönchengladbach.

For the 110th anniversary of the club on 1 August 2010, Liverpool were the opponents in a friendly match. The match in front of 51,515 spectators in the Borussia Park Mönchengladbach was won by Borussia, 1–0.

Rivalries

By contrast, there is a strong sporting rivalry between Mönchengladbach and the regional rival 1. FC Köln.

Widely considered the most severe of Mönchengladbach's rivalries, the animosities between Mönchengladbach and Cologne had their spark in 1964, when Cologne manager Hennes Weisweiler switched allegiance in favour of Mönchengladbach.

Mönchengladbach's stadium, Borussia-Park, is furthermore located at a road named Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee in Weisweiler's memory.

This initial outrage on behalf of FC Köln supporters was soon met with a serious sporting rivalry: Although Cologne initially had had the athletic edge as a founding member of the Bundesliga and the league's first champion, Mönchengladbach quickly closed the gap. Between the seasons 1969–70 and 1977–78, Mönchengladbach won five championships, Cologne won one, and Bayern Munich secured the remaining three.

The 77–78 season has become remembered in both club's collective memories: Although Mönchengladbach defeated Borussia Dortmund in the highest victory in Bundesliga history with a crushing 12–0, Cologne carried the championship with a 5–0 win over FC St. Pauli due to their slightly better goal difference (+45 versus +42 in Cologne's favour). To add insult to injury, Cologne was back under the leadership of Hennes Weisweiler, the personified point of contention between both clubs.

Although neither club has been able to win a Bundesliga title since the 1977–78 season, the rivalry remains, with several incidents of violence between supporters of both clubs. Overall, Mönchengladbach has been more successful in matches between the two, winning 54 out of 105 duels, drawing 20 and losing 31. Notably,

Mönchengladbach is more likely to win than FC Köln even in away matches (24–10–17 in Mönchengladbach's favour).

The first iteration of Borussia vs FC Köln was played on 1 January 1961 in front of a crowd of 11,000 in Oberliga West (1947–63). Cologne defeated Mönchengladbach 4–1.

Players and staff

Current squad

As of 3 September 2026

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

Out on loan

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

Former players

Craig Moore

Marco Reus

Håvard Nordtveit

Yann Sommer

Lars Stindl

Tony Jantschke

Patrick Herrmann

Marcus Thuram

Juan Arango

Marc-André ter Stegen

Retired numbers

12 – the 12th man, dedicated to fans

UEFA club rankings

As of 24 June 2026

Honours

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

Records and statistics

Most appearances

Only for Bundesliga

As of June 2026.

Top scorers

Only for Bundesliga

As of June 2026.

Record matches

Bundesliga

Borussia Mönchengladbach 12–0 Borussia Dortmund, 29 April 1978

DFB-Pokal

BSC Hastedt 1–11 Borussia Mönchengladbach, 19 August 2018

European Competitions

Borussia Mönchengladbach 10–0 EPA Larnaca, 22 September 1970

Unofficial

Borussia Mönchengladbach 21–4 Vatican City , 13 August 2016

Players' honours

For a list of every Borussia Mönchengladbach player with 100 or more appearances, see List of Borussia Mönchengladbach players

Players of the club achieved the following honours: