Borussia MönchengladbachBorussia Mönchengladbach was founded on 1 August 1900 by a group of pupils from a local grammar school. Although the club remained in the shadow of German football for its first few decades, it quickly became one of the country's leading forces after joining the newly formed Bundesliga in 1965.
The club's golden era began when coach Hennes Weisweiler took charge of the team, under whom Gladbach became synonymous with fast, attacking football built around individual flair. Between 1970 and 1977, the side won the German championship five times — in the 1969-70, 1970-71, 1974-75, 1975-76 and 1976-77 seasons — becoming the first club in Bundesliga history to successfully defend the title twice in a row. The 1974-75 season proved especially remarkable: Borussia won both the national championship and the UEFA Cup that year, beating Dutch side Twente Enschede 5-1 on aggregate in the final. The club lifted the trophy a second time in 1979, defeating Red Star Belgrade 2-1. In between, in 1977, Gladbach also reached the European Cup final, losing 1-3 to Liverpool FC in Rome.
The defining feature of this era became the club's rivalry with Bayern Munich, which left a lasting mark on German football history — the scale of the two clubs' dominance was best illustrated at the 1974 World Cup, when twelve of West Germany's 22-man squad came from these two teams alone. Gladbach's side of that period featured players such as Günter Netzer, Jupp Heynckes, Berti Vogts and Danish forward Allan Simonsen, who won the Ballon d'Or in 1977.
The nickname Die Fohlen (The Foals) reflected the youthful age and dynamic style of that generation of players. Although the club went through a period of stagnation after losing its key players in the 1980s, including two relegations from the Bundesliga, it now plays its home matches at the modern Borussia-Park, opened in 2004, and remains one of the most recognisable clubs in the history of German football.
