BVB Fanclub International

Die Fohlen: Five-time Bundesliga champions from Mönchengladbach.

Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The club plays in the Bundesliga, the top flight of German football. Nicknamed Die Fohlen (The Foals), the club has won five league titles, three DFB-Pokals and two UEFA Cup titles.

Quick Facts

Affiliation: Borussia Dortmund (Official)

Lore & Background

Borussia Mönchengladbach was founded in 1900, with its name derived from a Latinised form of Prussia, which was a popular name for German clubs in the former Kingdom of Prussia. The team joined the Bundesliga in 1965 and saw the majority of its success in the 1970s, where, under the guidance of Hennes Weisweiler and then Udo Lattek, a young squad with a fast, aggressive playing style was formed. During this period, Mönchengladbach won the Bundesliga five times, the UEFA Cup twice and reached a European Cup final in 1977.

Since 2004, Borussia Mönchengladbach have played at Borussia-Park, having previously played at the Bökelbergstadion since 1919. Based on membership, they are the fifth-largest club in Germany with over 75,000 members in 2016 and 93,000 as of 2021. The club's main rivals are 1. FC Köln, against whom they contest the Rhine derby. Their secondary rivals include Borussia Dortmund, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayer Leverkusen.

Reader's Guide

The club was formed in November 1899 by a group of discontented members who left their sports association, TC Germania Gladbach. On 17 November 1899, thirteen young men formed a new club focused on association football in the Zum Jägerhof pub, choosing the name Borussia. The official founding date is 1 August 1900, when the footballers reformed into Fussball Club Borussia 1900 within the Marianische Jünglings-Kongregation Mönchengladbach Eicken. Borussia left that congregation on 24 May 1903. The club played at the Bökelbergstadion from 1919 until 2004, when they moved to Borussia-Park.

Did You Know?

Borussia Mönchengladbach's name derives from a Latinised form of Prussia, a popular name for German clubs in the former Kingdom of Prussia.
The club's nickname Die Fohlen (The Foals) reflects the young squad that brought success in the 1970s.