page_title: Borussia Mönchengladbach
section_title: 1965–1969: Early years in Bundesliga and struggles
hierarchical_section_title: Borussia Mönchengladbach / History / 1965–1969: Early years in Bundesliga and struggles
caption_attribution_description: de:Hennes Weisweiler im Vorbereitungstrainingslager Schöneck
context_page_description: Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach, Mönchengladbach or Gladbach, is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, that plays in the Bundesliga, the top flight of German football. The club has won five League titles, three DFB-Pokals, and two UEFA Europa League titles.
  Borussia Mönchengladbach were founded in 1900, with its name derived from a Latinized 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, they captured five league championships with Die Fohlen team; a term coined as the squad were young with a fast, aggressive playing style. Mönchengladbach also won two UEFA Cup titles during this period 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, Borussia Mönchengladbach is the fifth largest club in Germany, with over 75,000 members.
context_section_description: 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.
caption: Hennes Weisweiler, 1970
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