Key Figures — Gladbach

Günther Theodor Netzer – The Playmaker: There are

Günther Theodor Netzer – The Playmaker: There are not many players bold enough to undermine the authority of their own coach.

not many players bold enough to undermine the authority of their own coach. Fewer still would dare to substitute themselves into a final. Günter Netzer did exactly that.

On June 23, 1973, in the DFB Cup final against 1. FC Köln, his last match for Borussia, Netzer decided that he had sat on the bench long enough. “I briefly informed Mr. Weisweiler that I was going to play now.

And then extra time started,” he later recalled. Three minutes after entering the pitch, Netzer scored the decisive 2:1 goal and made Gladbach cup winners. If the superstar had not already attained cult status thanks to his long blond hair and his love of fast cars, his self-substitution made him immortal to Gladbach fans.

In 297 league matches, the man who embodied the mythical number ten like no other German scored 108 goals, won two German titles and was named German Footballer of the Year twice before becoming the first German to move to Real Madrid in 1973.

Hans-Hubert “Berti” Vogts – The Record Man: “He’ll

Hans-Hubert “Berti” Vogts – The Record Man: “He’ll be something,” Hennes Weisweiler said when he introduced Berti Vogts to the German national team in 1967.

be something,” Hennes Weisweiler said when he introduced Berti Vogts to the German national team in 1967. At that point the defender had already been playing for Borussia for two years and was known as diligent, disciplined and — in modern language — entirely without swag. A hungry, hardworking young talent, exactly to Weisweiler’s taste. He was right.

Over 14 years, Vogts made 419 Bundesliga appearances for the Foals, scored 33 goals, captained the team to UEFA Cup victories in 1975 and 1979, won five league titles and the DFB Cup. Nicknamed the Terrier, he became famous for his biting, aggressive defending. Much later Stefan Raab would even dedicate a song to him before the 1994 World Cup.

His coaching record, despite winning Euro 1996, was mixed, and many of his quotes after his playing career inspired second-hand embarrassment.

Hennes Weisweiler – The Don: It is no

Hennes Weisweiler – The Don: It is no accident that Borussia’s current postal address is Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee 1.

accident that Borussia’s current postal address is Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee 1. With him, the club rose from provincial outfit to internationally recognized force. To this day, no manager stayed longer. For eleven years the Cologne-born Weisweiler ran the show in Gladbach.

His attacking style made waves, and experts still speak with admiration about his counterattacking blueprint. His 1959 manual Football: Tactics, Training, Team remains a standard work in coaching education. The offensive-minded coach played an enormous part in the popularity Borussia still enjoy.

His credo was simple: “The point of football is to score more goals than the opponent, not simply to concede fewer.” His players took him literally. On January 7, 1967, Borussia produced the first double-digit scoreline in Bundesliga history by crushing Schalke 11:0. Under Weisweiler, Gladbach won 169 of 340 matches and he never signed a formal contract there — a spoken word was enough. When he broke that word in May 1975 by unexpectedly agreeing to join Barcelona, he left the Bökelberg on bad terms. The bitterness has long since passed; the club proved as much by dedicating a six-month museum exhibition to him in 2020.

Allan Simonsen – The Superstar Striker: Allan Simonsen

Allan Simonsen – The Superstar Striker: Allan Simonsen was voted European Footballer of the Year in 1977.

was voted European Footballer of the Year in 1977. He played for Borussia Mönchengladbach from 1972 to 1979. Hennes Weisweiler spotted the 165-centimeter striker at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich and brought him in for 200,000 marks. In his first two Bundesliga seasons he struggled, managing just 17 appearances and two goals, and was nearly sold. No buyer came forward.

Then came the breakthrough in 1974/75. Simonsen played all 34 league games, scored 18 goals and formed a fearsome attack with Jupp Heynckes and Henning Jensen. Gladbach won the title and Simonsen became a superstar. He scored eight goals in Europe as BMG beat Twente Enschede to win the UEFA Cup.

They defended the league title in each of the next two seasons under Udo Lattek, with Simonsen scoring crucial goals. In 1977 he also scored in the European Cup final against Liverpool, which Gladbach lost 3:1, and in the same year he became the first Dane to win the Ballon d’Or. In 1979 he scored in the UEFA Cup final again, helping secure the club’s last international trophy. After that triumph, he moved to Barcelona — and with his departure, Borussia’s great era effectively ended.

Hans Meyer – The Communist: “I was only

Hans Meyer – The Communist: “I was only their twelfth choice,” Meyer said dryly when introduced as Gladbach’s new head coach in September 1999.

their twelfth choice,” Meyer said dryly when introduced as Gladbach’s new head coach in September 1999. Dry one-liners and self-irony were his trademarks. His quotes became some of the league’s most-cited and most entertaining, and long after retirement he remained a welcome talk-show guest. Yet Meyer did more than provide punchlines.

Under him, the Foals won promotion back to the Bundesliga in 2001 and reached the DFB Cup semifinal. With ugly, rumbling football and plenty of luck, emergency man Meyer also avoided relegation in spring 2009. Since 2003, he has also been an honorary member of the club and, as part of the presidium, helped shape its sporting direction.

Uwe Kamps – Goalkeeping Legend: Kamps arrived from

Uwe Kamps – Goalkeeping Legend: Kamps arrived from Düsseldorf in 1982 and stayed with Gladbach for 22 years as a player alone.

Düsseldorf in 1982 and stayed with Gladbach for 22 years as a player alone. He made 390 Bundesliga appearances; only Berti Vogts made more for Borussia. Later, he remained to train the next generation of goalkeepers.

Kamps became famous for putting his keepers through training in shorts whatever the weather, but the origin of his cult status lies elsewhere: on April 7, 1992, in the DFB Cup semifinal against Bayer Leverkusen, he saved all four Leverkusen penalties in the shootout. Even today, that remains a DFB Cup record. In the final, however, luck deserted him and Gladbach lost to Hannover 96. In 1995, after a 3:0 win over Wolfsburg, he finally got to hold the cup properly.

Helmut Grashoff – The Manager: Helmut Grashoff, the

Helmut Grashoff – The Manager: Helmut Grashoff, the son of a ship captain from Lübeck, compensated for Borussia Mönchengladbach’s structural disadvantages — a small stadium and a small city — for many years and kept the club among the Bundesliga elite.

son of a ship captain from Lübeck, compensated for Borussia Mönchengladbach’s structural disadvantages — a small stadium and a small city — for many years and kept the club among the Bundesliga elite. He became vice president in 1962 at the request of his skat friend, club president Helmut Beyer, and in 1966 he became manager of Borussia, only the second full-time manager in the Bundesliga after Bayern’s Robert Schwan. Together with president Helmut Beyer and team doctor Alfred Gerhards, Grashoff formed the legendary triumvirate that guided Borussia for more than 25 years.

On January 15, 1991, he stepped down, and Rolf Rüssmann succeeded him as manager. A street near Borussia-Park bears his name.

Jupp Heynckes – A Legend as Player, More

Jupp Heynckes – A Legend as Player, More Ambivalent as Coach: Heynckes worked at Borussia twice as a player and twice as a coach.

Ambivalent as Coach: Heynckes worked at Borussia twice as a player and twice as a coach. As a player, after a better offer drew him to Hannover for a spell, he returned and became the club’s most prolific Bundesliga scorer with 195 goals. He won four titles, one DFB Cup and one UEFA Cup with Gladbach, plus the European Championship in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974 with Germany.

As a coach, he took over after Udo Lattek in 1979 and stayed eight years, reaching another UEFA Cup final and a DFB Cup final, but winning no silverware. In 1987 he accepted Bayern’s offer, and Bayern became his second great footballing home. He returned to Gladbach in 2006, though that alliance ended abruptly after only six months.

None of that diminished his cult status on the Lower Rhine.

Stefan Effenberg – The Tiger: As of December

Stefan Effenberg – The Tiger: As of December 2019, Stefan Effenberg remained the only player in Bundesliga history to move from Mönchengladbach to Bayern twice.

2019, Stefan Effenberg remained the only player in Bundesliga history to move from Mönchengladbach to Bayern twice. He began his Bundesliga career on the Lower Rhine in 1987 and moved to Munich in 1990 after a string of escapades — including shooting out a hotel-room light with an air rifle and parking Heynckes’s off-roader in a gravel pit. Bayern, too, only tolerated the polarizing leader for two years.

After an unhappy spell in Florence, he returned to Gladbach in 1994, then moved to Bayern again in 1998. He won his biggest titles there, but he also won one trophy with the Foals: the 1995 DFB Cup. His nickname, the Tiger, was born in Gladbach after he lost a bet and had a tiger’s head sprayed into the hair at the back of his neck.

Lucien Favre – The Rescuer and Reformer: The

Lucien Favre – The Rescuer and Reformer: The Swiss coach saved Borussia from a third relegation in 2011 via the playoff, then had the club knocking on the Champions League door already in 2012.

Swiss coach saved Borussia from a third relegation in 2011 via the playoff, then had the club knocking on the Champions League door already in 2012. In his final season, 2014/15, he led Gladbach into Europe’s top competition.

Marc-André ter Stegen – “Messi in Gloves”: From

Marc-André ter Stegen – “Messi in Gloves”: From Gladbach to Barcelona and on toward world-star status, ter Stegen emerged from the club’s goalkeeping school.

Gladbach to Barcelona and on toward world-star status, ter Stegen emerged from the club’s goalkeeping school. In Germany he remained only the number two behind Manuel Neuer as of December 2019, but at Barça he established himself as a world-class figure from 2014 onward.

Rainer Bonhof – Only Not Successful as Coach:

Rainer Bonhof – Only Not Successful as Coach: Bonhof was Germany’s first naturalized international.

Bonhof was Germany’s first naturalized international. In 1969, while still holding Dutch citizenship, he made his first junior appearance for Germany. He then adopted German citizenship.

From 1970 to 1978 he played for Borussia Mönchengladbach, winning four titles, the DFB Cup and the UEFA Cup. But when he returned as coach in 1998, his spell ended in disaster: he oversaw the club’s first relegation from the Bundesliga and was dismissed after three straight defeats at the start of the second-division campaign. Hans Meyer, the Communist, replaced him.