UPDATED FOR 2024/25 - AUGUST 2024
BORUSSIA MÖNCHENGLADBACH
Founded: Aug 1, 1900
Club Members: 100,670
Nickname: Die Fohlen
Coach: Gerado Seoane
Captain: Jonas Omlin
German Champions / Bundesliga: 5
DFB-Pokal: 3
German Super Cup Winner: 1
Bundesliga.2 Champions: 1
UEFA Cup: 2
Western German Cup: 1
Landespokal Niederrhein Winner: 3
Website: www.borussia.de
With a long list of honours to add to their equally long name, Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach (commonly known as 'Borussia Mönchengladbach' or simply 'Gladbach') are probably the most successful of all Germany's Rhineland clubs.
Formed in 1900, their name is neo-Latin and means 'Prussia' - the former kingdom in which the city of Mönchengladbach is located. The club spent its formative years in the lower reaches of German football and although it had begun to rise through the divisions, its overall record wasn't judged strong enough to merit inclusion when it was being decided which clubs should form the new Bundesliga in 1963. Undeterred, Gladbach continued to make progress and promotion (alongside future powerhouse Bayern München) to the top-flight was achieved in 1965.
Under the stewardship of coach Hennes Weisweiler, and later Udo Lattak, Gladbach established themselves throughout the 1970s as one of Germany's top club sides, battling Bayern for supremacy with high octane, counter-attacking football. They won league titles in 1970, 1971 (the first Bundesliga champions to successfully defend their title), 1975, 1976 and 1977; the club's second DFB-Pokal was claimed in 1973 and two UEFA Cup titles followed in 1975 and 1979. It was a golden period for the club and much of their success was attributed to the development of key players such as Berti Vogts, Jupp Heynckes, Günter Netzer and Rainer Bonhoff who formed the core of the team for much of the decade.
Unfortunately, due to the modest ticket revenues generated at their small Bökelbergstadion home, Gladbach found themselves constantly having to sell their best players to survive, leading to the break up of the great team. Unsurprisingly, the success of previous years couldn't be sustained and they began to slip further and further behind their old rivals from Munich. The decline lasted throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and despite a third DFB-Pokal triumph in 1995, relegation to Bundesliga.2 came in 1999. The club returned to the Bundesliga in time for the opening of their new Borussia Park home in 2004 and apart from the occasional dip in fortunes, they have over the past 10 years in particular maintained a period of ascendency and re-established themselves in the upper echelons of the Bundesliga.
With one of the most passionate fanbases in the country, Borussia Mönchengladbach are the 5th biggest club in the country in terms of club membership, and because of the reputation they forged during the Seventies, remain a club that every football fan in Germany still holds in high esteem.
GROUND DETAILS
Ground Name: Borussia Park
Architect: Planungsgruppe B
Built: 2002 - 2004
Year Opened: 2004
Capacity: 54,014 (16,145 standing)
Executive Boxes: 45
Executive Seats: 684
Business Seats: 2064
Media Seats: 206
Wheelchair Spaces: 80
Construction Costs: €86.5m
Undersoil Heating: Yes
Running Track: No
Floodlights: 1,500 lux
LED Video Screens: 84m² x 2
Playing Surface: Natural Grass
Pitch Size: 105m x 68m
Grounds:
Reyerhuttstraße (1905 - 1907)
Schweizerhaus (1907 - 1914)
De Kull (1914 - 1919)
Westdeutsches Stadion (1919 - 1962)
Bökelbergstadion (1962 - 2004) *
Borussia Park (2004 - )
* Stadium Renamed
The success of the 1970s is intrinsically linked with Gladbach's historic former home - The Bökelbergstadion. With only the main stand covered and known for its incredibly steep terraces, it was an old fashioned, run down but much loved venue. Unfortunately however, its days as Gladbach's home were numbered as a sustained period of domestic and continental success for the club during the 1970s meant that its modest 34,500 capacity was too small to cope with demand. Its setting amongst tight residential streets and local concerns about matchday traffic congestion meant that expansion was never an option and a move to a new stadium would eventually be needed.
Borussia Park was therefore built and opened in time for the 2004-05 season and although many other grounds around Germany were being built or modernised around the same time in preparation for the 2006 World Cup, the timing of the tournament was purely coincidental and Borussia Park was never on the list of host venues.
The venerable Bökelbergstadion had been less than a mile from Mönchengladbach's Hauptbahnhof and fans enjoyed a pre-match drink at many of the pubs that lined the route to the stadium. Borussia Park however is in the middle of nowhere in an area formerly occupied by the British Army. The stadium is part of a complex on the outskirts of the city called Nordpark which also includes a multi-use stadium called Warsteiner Hockey Park used for field hockey and American Football.
Borussia Park itself has a capacity of 54,014 (46,279 when the stadium hosts international matches) and follows the now familiar German stadium standard of being a two-tiered fully covered football venue with no running track to ensure fans are kept as close to the action as possible. As with many of the new build stadiums in Germany, the sightlines are fantastic however and its size distinguishes it from similar looking stadiums at Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg.
Mönchengladbach are considered amongst the better supported Bundesliga clubs and their most vocal following gather in the Nordkurve which is made up of sections 13 to 19a (the 'a' blocks offering seats in the upper tier). The lower tier of this stand has a capacity of 16,000 which makes it the largest terrace in Germany after Borussia Dortmund. Visiting fans are found in the corner of the South Stand where it meets the East Stand (blocks 6, 6a, 7 and 7a).
BUYING TICKETS
Ticket Office:
Website: www.borussia.de
Telephone: +49 (0) 180 6181900
Email: info@borussia.de
Average Attendance:
2023-2024: 51,371 (Bundesliga)
2022-2023: 52,438 (Bundesliga)
2021-2022: 26,539 (Bundesliga) *
2020-2021: N/A *
2019-2020: 36,073 (Bundesliga) *
* Season affected by COVID pandemic
Expected Ticket Availability
With a capacity of 54,000, Mönchengladbach's policy has been to limit season ticket sales to around 30,000 in order to allow fans who can't be regulars at Borussia Park for whatever reason the opportunity to see them in action. Despite the average attendance hovering around the 51,000 mark, tickets are usually available on general sale for most home games through 'Gladbach's online ticket shop. However, matches against the usual suspects Bayern; and local derbies with BVB Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen will push demand right up and are likely to be sell-outs.
If there aren't any tickets available either through the club (give them a ring and ask if they can do anything for you), it may be worth paying a visit to Fanprojekt Monchengladbach (Gladbacher Str. 511, Mönchengladbach 41179) half-a-mile from Borussia Park. It's a fan-run pub which opens four hours before (and after) each home match. Ask around. You never know if "someone knows someone who knows someone ... etc" who has a spare ticket going.
Information about visiting Borussia Park for fans with disabilities can be found at:
www.bundesliga-reisefuehrer.de
Damage on the wallet depends on where in the ground you want to watch the action from and the quality of opposition facing the Foals. Ticket prices therefore vary from match to match and the club website is the best place to make sense of it but, very broadly speaking, full -payers should expect to pay anywhere between €29 - €49 for a seat, and €16 to stand on the Nordkurve terrace.
GETTING THERE & AWAY
Stadium Address:
Hennes-Weisweiler-Allee 1
41179, Mönchengladbach
BY CAR:
If you travel by car on matchdays, the club advise using 'Am Nordpark 400, 41179 Mönchengladbach' in Sat-Navs ('Am Borussiapark, 41179 Mönchengladbach' can be used on all other days).
Approaching Mönchengladbach, follow the A61 towards Koblenz until the Nordpark exit. From there, continue on the B230 towards Nordpark and the way to the stadium will be well signposted.
You should note however that the side streets off Aachener Straße and Gladbacher Straße are closed to non-residents. The Gladbacher Straße - Dorthausen junction near the stadium is also closed to all traffic from two hours before a match - so arrive early. At the ground itself, you'll find about 10,000 parking spaces available from a very reasonable €7 per day and more information about your parking options can be found here.
PUBLIC TRANSPORT:
With no direct rail connection to Borussia Park itself, getting to the stadium by public transport is a bit of a faff and will involve taking a bus at some point.
The closest rail station is Rheydt Hbf (not Rheydt Odenkirchen !) and on a matchday, shuttles leave here (opposite platform 4) every 5 minutes starting three hours prior to kick-off. Buses also run from Künkelstraße every 20 minutes starting two hours before kick-off. The shuttle service is very efficient and buses make the return journey to Mönchengladbach Hbf and Rheydt Hbf (there are separate queues for each station - look for the signposts) until two hours after full-time.
From the city centre, Bus 17 departs from the Europaplatz/Hauptbahnhof stop, and matchday shuttles also leave from Platz der Republik behind Mönchengladbach Hauptbahnhof for the 15-minute journey to Borussia Park.
Match tickets allow travel to and from the stadium inside areas covered by the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and the Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV) travel regions. If you've bought a Print@Home ticket, note that you can use it to travel in the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) area only.
Neither of these networks (VRR and AVV) cover travel to or from Cologne and so if you're using the cathedral city as a base, you're going to have to buy a Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS) ticket to Mönchengladbach which for adults will cost €13.67 and €6.20 for children.
If you're visiting on a non-matchday, then take Bus 17 to Am Borussiapark or Nordpark Busbahnhof and both stops are about 20 minutes walking distance of the stadium.
WALKING DIRECTIONS:
Borussia Park is about three and a half miles away from Mönchengladbach city centre, so using public transport is the best option. However, Google Maps is your friend when it comes to planning a route if the Bitburger isn't having too much of an impact on you.
CYCLING DIRECTIONS:
Borussia promote cycling to the ground on matchdays, highlighting the health benefits and the fact that you avoid matchday traffic jams. 1800 bikes can be stored by the Osttribüne and at car parks P4 and P10.
FAN SHOP, MUSEUM & STADIUM TOURS
FAN SHOP:
There is a fan shop called Folenshop in the Borussia-8-Grad building (in front of the Westtribüne) for all your green and black souvenirs (10am-6pm, Mon-Sat; open 10am on matchdays until one hour after the end of the match). There's also a branch in the city centre in the Minto Shopping Arcade (Am Minto 3, 41061 Mönchengladbach;10am-8pm, Mon-Sat).
MUSEUM:
A 1,150m² museum called Folenwelt was opened in 2019 at the stadium in association with club sponsor Puma. Split into nine chronological zones, the exhibits are spread out over 1,150m² and trace the club's history from its 1900 origins through to the present day. Visitors can choose their own interactive guide (available in English, Dutch and German) including club legend Rainer Bonhof, World Cup winner Christoph Kramer and former Nordkurve 'fan leader' Sven Körber (Adults/concessions/children under13: €12/€10/€7; 2pm-8pm, Thu; 10am-6pm, Fri-Sat; 10am-4pm, Sun & Public Holidays). Further Information about ticket prices can be found here.
STADIUM TOURS:
90-minute tours of Borussia Park are conducted on select days including one that takes you behind the scenes as the stadium gears up on a matchday. Information about what to expect, prices and how to book can be found here.
FOOD & DRINK OPTIONS
At the junction across from Rheydt Hbf, you'll find a couple of pre-match thirst parlours for cheap beers and a free chat with the Gladbach support. Töff Töff (Bahnhofstraße 48, 41236 Mönchengladbach) is the first bar you'll come to, but our favourite is found just a bit further along Bahnhofstraße. The Pògs is an Irish pub where the combination of good beer, great music and friendly service might well be the reason why you stayed seated instead of going to the match!
Borussia Park is right in the middle of nowhere and consequently there aren't that many options outside the ground for a pre-match drink and bite to eat. There are a couple of options however. The Fanprojekt Monchengladbach (Gladbacher Straße. 511, 41179 Mönchengladbach) is a fan-run pub half-a-mile from the ground and it opens four hours before and after each home match; and the stadium beer sponsors also do their bit by opening up the 'Bitburger Beer Garden' behind the Nordkurve to service the Gladbacher's noisy pre-match party.
The same beer and wurst options available here can also be found inside the stadium - and as a reward for putting up with the hassle of getting to the ground, 'Gladbach haven't introduced a stadium card system and will let you pay for everything with cash or by card.
STORAGE OF BACKPACKS & BAGS
Belt bags and small handbags (approx A4 size) can be taken into the stadium after a quick once over from security but anything larger (i.e backpacks, large bags) will have to be stored at one of the drop-off points by each entrance. Storage is limited however, so 'Gladbach strongly suggest leaving all bags back at the hotel or in the car.
OTHER CLUBS IN THE AREA
BUNDESLIGA: Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Borussia Dortmund, VfL Bochum 1848
BUNDESLIGA 2: 1.FC Köln, FC Schalke 04, Fortuna Düsseldorf, SC Paderborn 07, SC Preußen Münster
3.LIGA: Alemannia Aachen, Borussia Dortmund II, DSC Arminia Bielefeld, FC Viktoria Köln, Rot Weiss Essen, SC Verl, VfL Osnabrück
