Borussia Mönchengladbach

**Borussia V.f.L. 1900 Mönchengladbach** is a football club which plays in the German Bundesliga. Borussia Mönchengladbach has over 40,000 members and is the sixth largest club in Germany.
## History
### Early History
The club was founded in 1900 by players from the football club SV Germania. The name Borussia is the Latin form of Prussia. Mönchengladbach was at this time part of Prussia. In 1914 the club bought an area where later the Bökelbergstadion was built. The first success was the Westdeutsche Meisterschaft in 1920. During the time of the Third Reich Heinz Ditgens became the first Borussia player who played for Germany. He was part of the 1936 Olympic team. Till the beginning of the 1960s the club had many up and downs.

### 1960 till today
The first important honour was the win of the German Cup in 1960 when they beat Karlsruher SC 3:2. But their results were not good enough to play in the new German Bundesliga. In the 1965/66 season they played for the first time in the Bundesliga. The same year Bayern München was promoted. In the 1970s these two teams dominated the league. 1970s were the golden age of Borussia Mönchengladbach. The coach Hennes Weisweiler formed a young team which won the UEFA Cup two times and was 4 times in the finals. In the 1980s the club was not as successful but was still an important team in the Bundesliga. From 1996 the club declined and in the 1998/99 season they were relegated. 2001/02 they reached the second place and were again promoted to the Bundesliga. 2006/07 they were again relegated. The next season they won the second league and were promoted. 
## Famous players
*Heinz Ditgens
*Toni Turek
*Jupp Heynckes
*Winfried Schäfer
*Rainer Bonhof
*Günter Netzer
*Allan Simonsen
*Lothar Matthäus
*Berti Vogts
Over all 35 players of Borussia Mönchengladbach were players in the German national football team.

## League position 
### Former position 
## Players' honours
Players of the club achieved the following honours:

**Player of the Year – Europe**

* 1977:  Allan Simonsen
* 1986:  Igor Belanov

**Player of the Year – Germany**

* 1971:  Berti Vogts	
* 1972:  Günter Netzer
* 1973:  Günter Netzer
* 1979:  Berti Vogts
* 1987:  Uwe Rahn
* 1990:  Lothar Matthäus
* 1999:  Lothar Matthäus

**Player of the Year – Australia**

* 1996:  Damian Mori

**Player of the Year – Austria**

* 1986:  Anton Polster
* 1997:  Anton Polster

**Player of the Year – Belgium**

* 2001:  Wesley Sonck

**Player of the Year – Denmark**

* 1994:  Thomas Helveg

**Player of the Year – Sweden**

* 1993:  Martin Dahlin
* 1995:  Patrik Andersson
* 2001:  Patrik Andersson

**Player of the Year – USA**

* 1997:  Kasey Keller
* 1999:  Kasey Keller
* 2005:  Kasey Keller

**Bundesliga Top-Scorers**

* 1974 – 30 Goals –  Jupp Heynckes (jointly with Gerd Müller (FC Bayern München))
* 1975 – 29 Goals –  Jupp Heynckes
* 1987 – 24 Goals –  Uwe Rahn
* 1995 – 20 Goals –  Heiko Herrlich (jointly with Mario Basler (Werder Bremen))

**Goal of the Year**

* 1971:  Ulrik Le Fevre
* 1972:  Günter Netzer
* 1973:  Günter Netzer
* 1978:  Rainer Bonhof
* 1979:  Harald Nickel
* 2005:  Kasper Bögelund
* 2006:  Oliver Neuville

## References