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. 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 the 1910–11 season, the league grew from seven to ten teams, adding opponents like Germania Hilden, FC Krefeld and Eintracht Mönchengladbach, bringing the game plan for Borussia to 18 games, not counting numerous friendly matches that brought the total number of games played to over 30, placing a significant strain on the amateur players. Aside from a noteworthy 11–2 victory over rivals Rheydt SV, the season was another mediocre performance for Borussia. The season forced Borussia to once again move the playing ground, after the
Schweizerhaus grounds were deemed to dangerous in response to complaints by opposing teams. Borussia subsequently moved to grounds near the Catholic graveyard, and finished fourth in the league. The 1911–12 season was the first major success in the club's history. Borussia easily dominated the league with twelve wins, one draw and one loss, and thus earned qualification for promotion games towards
Verbandsliga as northern district champions as well as the West German championship. Borussia defeated VfJuB Düren, the southern district champions, in a 4–2 game, before achieving a 5–0 blowout against
VfB 1900 Gießen, the
Hessian champions. Ultimately, Borussia lost the finals for the West German championship against Cologne BC 01, the precursor of Borussia's greatest all-time rival,
1. FC Köln, at a 2–4 scoreline. 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.
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 , 19 June 1965 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. The achievement of the first place made promotion to the Bundesliga safe. Together with Borussia Bayern Munich rose by winning Group 2. Mönchengladbach enjoyed its first taste of the Bundesliga in the
1965–66 season, earning promotion alongside future powerhouse
Bayern Munich. The two clubs went on to engage in 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.
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 displayed an offensive-minded philosophy and powerful play that attracted fans from all over Germany. Borussia won the championship five times, more than any other team in this time. At the same time a rivalry developed with FC Bayern Munich, with which Borussia together ascended in 1965 to the Bundesliga. 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. in a running duel with
Johan Cruyff in the
World Cup final of 1974 On 20 October 1971, in the
European Cup, the champions took part in a
can-throwing game in football history match against
Inter Milan instead. Borussia won the match at Bökelbergstadion 7–1, but
UEFA cancelled the game, as the Italian striker
Roberto Boninsegna was hit by an empty coke can and received medical treatment. Coaching legend
Matt Busby described the game of the colts: After a 4–2 away defeat in
Milan and a goalless draw in the replay at the
Berlin Olympic Stadium, Borussia were eliminated from the Cup of the national champions.
Die Fohlen won 2-1 against
1. FC Köln in the Rheinland derby by a goal by
Günter Netzer in
1973 to win their second
DFB-Pokal. For Netzer this was the last game for Borussia: he left the club and moved to
Real Madrid. In addition to the game-winning scene in the 93rd minute from Netzer, there were numerous other highlights in the 30th cup final in history,
that of the one best, playful highly interesting and exciting in the history of this competition in the annals entered and of which one could swarm only in highest tones ( Kicker ). The first international final match took place on 9 May 1973.
Liverpool won the
UEFA Cup first-leg 3–0 on the second try after the game was cancelled the day before due to rain. On 23 May 1973, Borussia Mönchengladbach won the second-leg 2–0, but Liverpool won the cup by aggregate victory. The following seasons were marked by the departure of well-known players, although the main Mönchengladbach striker remained. In the 1973–74 season, Jupp Heynckes's 30 goals made him the top-scorer in the Bundesliga, the first Borussia Monchengladbach player to be so. In that first season following the departure of Günter Netzer, Borussia finished as runner-up to champions Bayern Munich by one point. With a total of 93 goals scored Borussia set a new club record. Borussia graduated in the following years 1972 to 1974, the championship in third and fifth place and vice-champion. In the 1974–75 season, Borussia laid the foundation for a feat previously unheard of in the Bundesliga. On Matchday 17, the "foals" topped the league table and did not relinquish the league lead until winning the championship on 14 June 1975. The joy over the title was clouded by the departure of coach
Hennes Weisweiler, who left the club after eleven years in the direction of
Barcelona. The next international final with Mönchengladbach participation took place on 7 May 1975. The first leg of the UEFA Cup in Düsseldorf between Borussia and
Twente ended goalless. The second leg on 21 May 1975 was won by the VfL 5: 1. With the highest away win in a UEFA Cup final, Borussia won their first international title.
Udo Lattek, who came from the rival
Bayern Munich, although he had already signed with
Rot-Weiss Essen, took over the club in the 1975–76 season. In contrast to the departed Weisweiler, Lattek represented a rather safety-first philosophy. The team topped the Championship on the twelfth round of the season, with a victory over
Werder Bremen and
Eintracht Braunschweig, and retained that lead to the end of the season. On 3 March 1976, on
Ash Wednesday, was the next international appearance of Borussia. In the
European Champions Cup, Borussia Mönchengladbach played against Real Madrid, where now
Günter Netzer and
Paul Breitner were under contract, 2:2. In the second leg (17 March 1976), which ended 1–1, the referee
Leonardus van der Kroft did not recognise two Mönchengladbach goals, in the 68th minute a goal by
Henning Jensen and in the 83rd minute by
Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp. Once a foul must have preceded the goal, once the referee decided on offside, although it had been not indicated by the linesman. The draw was enough for the Madrilenians to progress. The team won three consecutive titles from
1975 to
1977. On 12 June 1976, Mönchengladbach won a fourth league title. In the 1976–77 season, Lattek went with an almost unchanged team at the start. As
Wolfgang Kleff was injured, the club signed a new goalkeeper. In
Wolfgang Kneib, who came from
SV Wiesbaden, Lattek found a safe substitute. Borussia needed one point to defend the title on the final day. The match took place away against Bayern Munich, then sixth in the table, and ended 2:2 by an own goal in the 90th minute by
Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp. Borussia made the hat-trick and won on 21 May 1977 for the third consecutive time and for the fifth time overall the German championship title. The Dane
Allan Simonsen received after this season the award as Europe's Footballer of the Year with the
Ballon d'Or. The team narrowly missed a fourth consecutive championship title in season 1977–78: Monchengladbach lost out to 1. FC Köln only by a worse goal difference.
Borussia won against Borussia Dortmund 12–0 on the final day of the season, still the highest victory in the history of the Bundesliga. However, the Domstädter won their last game 5:0 at FC St. Pauli: they had a better goal difference by three goals and so won the championship. For the first time in the Bundesliga first and second were tied after the end of the season. Borussia would have been able to decide the championship in their favour had they won the match against 1. FC Cologne a few weeks earlier. However, the game ended in a draw, with Cologne player Heinz Flohe netting a vital 83rd-minute equaliser. Although Mönchengladbach lost the
1977 final of the
European Cup to
Liverpool in
Rome (25 May 1977), they also made four appearances in the
UEFA Cup, with wins in
1975 and
1979 against losses in
1973 and
1980. The club's 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. 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. In the 1986–87 season, there was once again a coaching change.
Jupp Heynckes announced his move to
Bayern Munich. The club nominated
Wolf Werner as the new coach. At the end of the season, Borussia stood with the third place in the table for the last time in this decade at a
UEFA Cup place. The
Association of German Sports Journalists voted
Uwe Rahn Player of the Year. Again Borussia reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. But also this time Borussia lost against the later DFB Cup winner
Hamburger SV. On 22 April 1987, Borussia lost against the Scottish representative
Dundee United after defeat at home in
Bökelberg in the UEFA Cup semi-final. It was also the first defeat in a
European Cup game on the Bökelberg. After the departure of
Jupp Heynckes, the era of long-standing engagements of head coaches ended. In the first 23 years from 1964 to 1987, Borussia only had three instructors; Since the departure of Heynckes, Borussia had committed 16 new coaches until 2008, with the exception of interim solutions. It was Werner's release on 21 November 1989 that saw first premature dismissal of a coach at Borussia at all. Only three later coaches managed to succeed in Mönchengladbach for more than three years,
Bernd Krauss (1992–1996),
Hans Meyer (1999–2003) and
Lucien Favre (2011–2015). In the next season, Borussia signed
Stefan Effenberg, a player who worked long and successfully for the club. Borussia finished the season in seventh place and thus missed the participation in international competitions. The early 1990s followed a significant downward trend. As a result of the sporting decline, the number of spectators at the Bökelberg was declining for the first time. Already in the 1989–90 season, the club had fought against relegation. In the following years, Borussia placed in the midfield of the league. In the 1991–92 season, Borussia played again a good cup season. In the Cup semi-final, goalkeeper
Uwe Kamps saved all four penalties against
Bayer Leverkusen, and Borussia reached the final. The final on 23 May 1992 saw the Mönchengladbachers lose against the club from second division
Hannover 96 3–4 on penalties. In 1993, the club signed the players
Heiko Herrlich and
Patrik Andersson, and in 1994,
Stefan Effenberg came back, who played for Borussia Mönchengladbach from 1987 to 1990. Under coach
Bernd Krauss, they managed a renewed connection to the Bundesliga top end. In the 1994–95 season came the first trophy for Borussia since 1979, where they won the DFB-Pokal with a 3–0 victory over
VfL Wolfsburg. Borussia would also win the Supercup against the German champions Borussia Dortmund a few months later.
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. and the names of the players of the "Team of the Century" On 1 August 2000, Borussia Mönchengladbach celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the club. As part of the celebrations, next to coach
Hennes Weisweiler the following players were elected by Borussia supporters in the so-called century Elf: As goalkeeper
Wolfgang Kleff, in defence
Berti Vogts,
Hans-Günter Bruns,
Wilfried Hannes and
Patrik Andersson, in midfield
Rainer Bonhof,
Stefan Effenberg,
Herbert Wimmer, and
Günter Netzer, and in attack
Jupp Heynckes and
Allan Simonsen. Later, large-format posters with images of the players on the north and east sides were attached to the steel exterior of the stadium in Borussia Park. In the 2000–01 season, the team was able to celebrate as a runner-up in the Bundesliga 2 re-emergence in the Bundesliga and reached the semi-finals of the DFB Cup, but were knocked out as in the previous year against a Regionalligisten (
Union Berlin) on penalties. Borussia won first place in the national
fair play ranking in 2002 in the draw for a place in the UEFA Cup, but the lot was not drawn. Also in the season 2003–04 Borussia missed participation in the UEFA Cup. On 17 March 2004, the Borussia were eliminated by a 0–1 defeat against the then second division
Alemannia Aachen in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. A victory against the Alemannia would have been enough, because the final opponent
Werder Bremen was already qualified for the UEFA Champions League due to the table position. The season was under the motto
Bye Bye Bökelberg, because on 22 May 2004, the last Bundesliga match took place in
Bökelbergstadion. The Borussia defeated
1860 Munich 3:1; the last goal on Bökelberg was headed by
Arie van Lent.
Uwe Kamps came on in the 82nd minute and came to his 457th match in the Bundesliga. 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 have much success 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, former Mönchengladbach player and coach
Jupp Heynckes was appointed as team coach. , northern bend Borussia had taken steps to improve their financial situation with the construction of their new 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
Arminia Bielefeld won against
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.
2010–2017: Revival in April 2012 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). , manager from 2011 to 2015 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. 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, 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. ;
Wendt;
Johnson;
Xhaka;
Raffael;
Korb;
Herrmann;
Kramer;
Brouwers;
Sommer; and
Jantschke. After a poor start to the
2015–16 Bundesliga season, including five defeats, Favre resigned 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.
2017–present: 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. Borussia 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 after finishing second place in
Group B, but were ultimately knocked out in the round of 16 by
Manchester City. ==Club culture==