# 2008–09 Borussia Mönchengladbach season

The 2008–09 Borussia Mönchengladbach season was the 108th season in the club's history. They played in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football. It was the club's first season in the top tier since their relegation from the Bundesliga in 2007.
They also took part in the DFB Pokal, Germany's top club knockout competition, where they reached the second round before being eliminated 2–0 by fellow Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus, who they coincidentally played a part in relegating later on in the season.

## Season summary

In the summer transfer window, Jos Luhukay notably sold German under-21 youngsters Eugen Polanski and Robert Fleßers, Danish Tor des Jahres winner Kasper Bøgelund, and Angolan international Nando Rafael, to Getafe, Mainz 05, Aalborg, and AGS, with all bar the last being free transfers. In replacement, Michael Bradley, Karim Matmour, Gal Alberman and Jean-Sébastien Jaurès signed with die Fohlen.
At the start of the season, Mönchengladbach encountered troubles in the Bundesliga, with several disappointing performances. The worst of it came in a 5–1 defeat to 12th place Hannover 96, saw manager Jos Luhukay dismissed in October with only 1 win in 7 league matches, and elimination from the DFB-Pokal by Energie Cottbus. Christian Ziege's brief one match stint as manager saw Borussia get their 4th point of the season in a 2–2 draw to Bochum away, with Hans Meyer taking the reins for the rest of the season.
In the winter transfer window, Meyer signed Belgian goalkeeper Logan Bailly from Genk, Czech national Tomáš Galásek from Baník Ostrava, and Canadian defender Paul Stalteri from Tottenham Hotspur, with Meyer selling fellow Germans Alexander Voigt to Greuther Fürth, and Sascha Rösler to 1860 Munich. In a tough final day battle, Mönchengladbach played Dortmund in the Borussia derby, while Bielefeld faced Hannover. Cottbus took on Leverkusen, and won 3–1, and as Bielefeld finished with a 1–1 draw, they went down to 20th, cementing their place next season in the 2. Bundesliga. Mönchengladbach were able to salvage a 1–1 draw in the derby, which secured Bundesliga status. Meyer escaped the drop with die Fohlen while being bottom of the league from mid December to early March. Meyer left the club at the season's close, and recently sacked Arminia Bielefeld coach Michael Frontzeck took his place.

## Squad

Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | GER | Christofer Heimeroth |
| 2 | DF | GER | Sebastian Schachten |
| 3 | DF | BEL | Filip Daems (captain) |
| 4 | DF | NED | Roel Brouwers |
| 5 | DF | CIV | Steve Gohouri |
| 6 | DF | GER | Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker |
| 7 | MF | MLI | Soumaïla Coulibaly |
| 8 | MF | CZE | Tomáš Galásek |
| 9 | FW | ISR | Roberto Colautti |
| 11 | MF | GER | Marko Marin |
| 13 | DF | CAN | Paul Stalteri |
| 14 | FW | SWE | Sharbel Touma |
| 15 | DF | GER | Thomas Kleine |
| 16 | FW | CAN | Rob Friend |
| 17 | DF | NED | Patrick Paauwe |
| 18 | GK | GER | Frederic Löhe |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | MF | ISR | Gal Alberman |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jean-Sébastien Jaurès |
| 22 | DF | GER | Tobias Levels |
| 25 | FW | GER | Moses Lamidi |
| 26 | MF | USA | Michael Bradley |
| 27 | FW | GER | Oliver Neuville |
| 28 | MF | GER | Johannes van den Bergh |
| 29 | MF | GER | Alexander Baumjohann |
| 30 | GK | BEL | Logan Bailly |
| 31 | DF | BRA | Dante |
| 32 | DF | GER | Christian Dorda |
| 33 | DF | GER | Tim Heubach |
| 37 | MF | GER | Tony Jantschke |
| 40 | FW | ALG | Karim Matmour |
| 41 | DF | GER | Oliver Stang |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| 40 | MF | Karim Matmour | SC Freiburg | Undisclosed | 4 June 2008 |
| 6 | DF | Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker | Bayer Leverkusen | Undisclosed | 1 July 2008 |
| 19 | MF | Gal Alberman | Beitar Jerusalem | Undisclosed | 1 July 2008 |
| 20 | DF | Jean-Sébastien Jaurès | Auxerre | Free | 1 July 2008 |
| 26 | FW | Michael Bradley | Heerenveen | €5,000,000 | 31 August 2008 |
| 30 | GK | Logan Bailly | Genk | Undisclosed | 22 December 2008 |
| 8 | MF | Tomáš Galásek | Baník Ostrava | Undisclosed | 22 December 2008 |
| 13 | DF | Paul Stalteri | Tottenham Hotspur | Free | 22 December 2008 |
| 31 | DF | Dante | Standard Liège | Undisclosed | 27 December 2008 |

### Out

| No. | Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 26 | MF | Robert Fleßers | Mainz 05 | Free | 4 June 2008 |
| 9 | FW | Nando Rafael | AGS | Undisclosed | 1 July 2008 |
| 13 | DF | Zé António | Racing Santander | Free | 1 July 2008 |
| 20 | DF | Kasper Bögelund | Aalborg | Free | 1 July 2008 |
| 6 | MF | Eugen Polanski | Getafe | Free | 4 July 2008 |
| 17 | MF | David Degen | Young Boys | Free | 22 August 2008 |
| 8 | MF | Sebastian Svärd | Hansa Rostock | Loan | 1 January 2009 |
| 10 | FW | Sascha Rösler | 1860 Munich | Undisclosed | 8 January 2009 |
| 13 | DF | Alexander Voigt | Greuther Fürth | Free | 13 January 2009 |
| 23 | MF | Marcel Ndjeng | Hamburger SV | Loan | 26 January 2009 |
| 21 | GK | Uwe Gospodarek | Released | Released | 22 April 2009 |

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Bundesliga | 17 August 2008 | 23 May 2008 | Matchday 1 | 15th | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 62 | −23 | 023.53 |
| DFB-Pokal | 9 August 2008 | 23 September 2008 | First round | Second round | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 050.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 36 | 9 | 7 | 20 | 47 | 65 | −18 | 025.00 |
Last updated: 25 May 2023 Source: kicker

### Bundesliga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 13 | Eintracht Frankfurt | 34 | 8 | 9 | 17 | 39 | 60 | −21 | 33 | |
| 14 | VfL Bochum | 34 | 7 | 11 | 16 | 39 | 55 | −16 | 32 | |
| 15 | Borussia Mönchengladbach | 34 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 39 | 62 | −23 | 31 | |
| 16 | Energie Cottbus (R) | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 30 | 57 | −27 | 30 | Qualification to relegation play-offs |
| 17 | Karlsruher SC (R) | 34 | 8 | 5 | 21 | 30 | 54 | −24 | 29 | Relegation to 2. Bundesliga |

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: kicker

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | L | L | W | L | L | L | L | D | W | L | L | W | D | L | L | L | L | L | D | D | W | L | W | W | L | D | L | L | D | L | W | W | L | D |
| Position | 15 | 15 | 18 | 11 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 17 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 17 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 15 |

#### Matches
### DFB-Pokal

In the first round, Borussia Mönchengladbach were drawn against VfB Vichte Bielefeld.

## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Bundesliga | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | DFB-Pokal |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||
| 1 | GK | GER | Christofer Heimeroth | 11 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 18 | GK | GER | Frederic Löhe | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 30 | GK | BEL | Logan Bailly | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||
| 2 | DF | GER | Sebastian Schachten | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | BEL | Filip Daems | 35 | 2 | 33 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | BEL | Roel Brouwers | 26 | 3 | 20+5 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | CIV | Steve Gohouri | 15 | 2 | 14+1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | GER | Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker | 9 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 13 | DF | CAN | Paul Stalteri | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | GER | Thomas Kleine | 8 | 1 | 3+5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | NED | Patrick Paauwe | 24 | 1 | 21+3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jean-Sébastien Jaurès | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | GER | Tobias Levels | 18 | 1 | 15+2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | BRA | Dante | 10 | 3 | 9+1 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 32 | DF | GER | Christian Dorda | 7 | 0 | 6+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | DF | GER | Tim Heubach | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | GER | Oliver Stang | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||
| 7 | MF | MLI | Soumaïla Coulibaly | 5 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | CZE | Tomáš Galásek | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | GER | Marko Marin | 35 | 7 | 25+8 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
| 19 | MF | ISR | Gal Alberman | 17 | 0 | 14+2 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | MF | USA | Michael Bradley | 28 | 5 | 26+2 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | GER | Johannes van den Bergh | 8 | 1 | 4+3 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 29 | MF | GER | Alexander Baumjohann | 30 | 3 | 22+6 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| 37 | MF | GER | Tony Jantschke | 4 | 1 | 3+1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||
| 9 | FW | ISR | Roberto Colautti | 25 | 3 | 10+14 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 14 | FW | SWE | Sharbel Touma | 2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | FW | CAN | Rob Friend | 25 | 7 | 23+1 | 7 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 25 | FW | GER | Moses Lamidi | 4 | 0 | 0+4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 | FW | GER | Oliver Neuville | 26 | 1 | 3+22 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 40 | FW | ALG | Karim Matmour | 35 | 3 | 29+5 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| Players transferred out during season ||||||||||
| 8 | MF | DEN | Sebastian Svärd | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | FW | GER | Sascha Rösler | 6 | 2 | 2+2 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 13 | DF | GER | Alexander Voigt | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | CMR | Marcel Ndjeng | 11 | 0 | 6+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 | GK | GER | Uwe Gospodarek | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: worldfootball worldfootball

### Goalscorers

| Rank | Pos. | No. | Nat. | Player | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | Total |
| 1 | FW | 16 | | Rob Friend | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| 1 | MF | 11 | | Marko Marin | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 3 | MF | 26 | | Michael Bradley | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | DF | 31 | | Dante | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | FW | 9 | | Roberto Colautti | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | DF | 4 | | Roel Brouwers | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 4 | MF | 29 | | Alexander Baumjohann | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 4 | FW | 40 | | Karim Matmour | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 9 | FW | 11 | | Sascha Rösler | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 5 | | Steve Gohouri | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | DF | 3 | | Filip Daems | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 12 | MF | 37 | | Tony Jantschke | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 15 | | Thomas Kleine | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | MF | 28 | | Johannes van den Bergh | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 18 | | Tobias Levels | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | DF | 17 | | Patrick Paauwe | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 12 | FW | 27 | | Oliver Neuville | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| — | — | — | — | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 39 | 8 | 47 |