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Bayer LeverkusenV. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (German: [boˈʁʊsi̯a mœnçn̩ˈɡlatbax] ) and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
The club plays in the Bundesliga, the top flight of German football. Nicknamed Die Fohlen [diː ˈfoːlən] (The Foals), the club has won five league titles, three DFB-Pokals and two UEFA Cup titles.
Borussia Mönchengladbach was founded in 1900, with its name derived from a Latinised 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, a young squad with a fast, aggressive playing style was formed. During this period, Mönchengladbach won the Bundesliga five times, the UEFA Cup twice 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, they are the fifth-largest club in Germany with over 75,000 members in 2016 and 93,000 as of 2021. The club's main rivals are 1. FC Köln, against whom they contest the Rhine derby. Their secondary rivals include Borussia Dortmund, Fortuna Düsseldorf and Bayer Leverkusen.
1899–1905: Formation
In November 1899, a group of discontented members left their sports association, TC Germania Gladbach (referred to as "Teutonia Gladbach" in some sources). On 17 November 1899, thirteen of these young men formed a new club, this time specifically focused on association football, in the Zum Jägerhof pub. They chose the word Borussia (Latin: "Prussia") as their association's new title, although this was not yet the club's official founding. Borussia was chosen because Mönchengladbach was located in the western provinces awarded to the Kingdom of Prussia as part of the 1815 Congress of Vienna. Other notable football clubs in western Germany that chose the name "Prussia" as their title include Borussia Dortmund in 1909 and SC Preußen Münster in 1906.Borussia's early years were faced with the problems typical for association football teams in the German Empire: the sport, only recently imported from the UK in the 1880s, was not yet institutionally accepted, and as a result there were logistical shortages of football fields, goals, changing rooms, and player equipment. Borussia's players initially had to finance their own gear for what was at the time a considerable financial expenditure for working-class people.
Borussia was the second dedicated football club in the city of Mönchengladbach. FC Mönchengladbach, founded six years earlier in 1894, quickly became Borussia's first rival. Whereas FC Mönchengladbach was socially and financially established, young Borussia found it difficult to guarantee regular access to training grounds and equipment. As a result, the team joined the Marianische Jünglings-Kongregation Mönchengladbach Eicken (German: "Marian Youth Congregation Mönchengladbach Eicken"), a conservative Catholic sporting association. Within this larger organization, the footballers reformed into the Fussball Club Borussia 1900 on 1 August 1900, marking the club's official founding date.
From within the congregation, Borussia was able to more effectively organize official games against various opposing teams. The team scored 2–1 victories over both Blitz Neuwerk and Germania Mönchengladbach, and a 4–2 victory over Rheydt FC. As early as 1902, Borussia crossed international borders for the first time, losing 0–2 against Helmondia Helmond in the Netherlands, before playing the Dutch team to a 1–1 draw at home.
The appeal of both association football in general and Borussia in particular caused tensions with the conservative ideology of the Youth Congregation; the practice of football players wearing shorts instead of long trousers and the reality of football practice on Sundays hindering Church attendance created tension between Borussia and the Youth Congregation Eicken, and Borussia ultimately left the congregation on 24 May 1903.
To continue successful football competitions and to ease the organization of games, the club had applied to join the Rheinisch-Westfälischer Spielverband (German: "Rhenish-Westphalian Sports Federation") on 16 February 1903, and was accepted on 23 February. Borussia continued playing local and regional opponents like Britannia Düsseldorf and BV Solingen. They also continued to travel to the nearby Netherlands, drawing Eindhoven VV 1–1. Borussia received a 0–11 defeat against Borussia Cologne in October 1903 in the away fixture; the loss was repeated 1–4 at home in the return game.
In 1904, Borussia competed with several other local teams in the third class of the second district of the Rhenish-Westphalian Sports Federation. After Borussia's only competitor for the title, BV Solingen, skipped the 1905 fixture in Mönchengladbach, Borussia won the title without having to face their opponent. On 8 January 1905, Borussia additionally scored a respectable 1–0 win over its city rival FC Mönchengladbach, albeit against the third team, confirming an earlier 6–1 win over FC Mönchengladbach on 26 December 1904. After having won the district cup, Borussia competed for the third class federation cup against, among others, teams from Essen and Cologne, ultimately losing the title to Kölner FC 99.