All information accurate as of August 14th, 2026.
Club Name: Borussia Mönchengladbach
Founded: 1900
Stadium: Borussia-Park - 54,057 capacity
Nickname: Die Fohlen (The Foals)
Titles: Bundesliga x5, DFB-Pokal x3, UEFA Cup/Europa League x2
Head Coach: Eugen Polanski
Captain: Tim Kleindienst
Mascot: Jünter the Foal
Goal Song: Scooter – Maria (I Like it Loud)
2025/26 Season: 12th
Opening Fixture: RB Leipzig (A)
Head Coach:
Former Gladbach midfielder Eugen Polanski, who also played in the Bundesliga for Mainz and Hoffenheim, as well as for the Polish national team, will take charge for his first full season as Gladbach’s Head Coach. Having been the reserve team Head Coach since 2022, Polanski was promoted in September 2025 when Gerardo Seoane was relieved of his duties after just three league games, two defeats and zero goals scored. Polanski managed to stabilise the club enough, winning nine and drawing ten of the remaining 31 games.
Polanski prefers playing 3-at-the-back, although he is pragmatic beyond this in how he sets up his team. Most often, though, it is the 3-4-2-1 with dual number 10s behind a target man, and heavy reliance on wing-backs for creativity. Polanski is not the most popular figure amongst the Gladbach fans, as results were still quite disappointing considering the club had been striving for European football for much of the last 15 years, although he gets some additional grace as a former player. Time will tell if he’s going to stamp his identity on the team from the start of this season, or if he will continue accepting mediocrity in the name of maintaining the club’s Bundesliga status – the fans, however, are unlikely to.
Transfers:
With little happening regarding incomings, let’s start with a key departure. Rocco Reitz, the academy graduate who captained the club last season aged just 23, has been sold to RB Leipzig for €20m. This leaves a big hole in midfield, as he was arguably their best player with his technical brilliance. USMNT maverick Gio Reyna also heads out the door, signing with Strasbourg for €3m.
Haris Tabaković, Gladbach’s top scorer last term with 15 goals in all competitions, returned to Hoffenheim from his loan before being sold to Red Bull Salzburg. Yannik Engelhardt was another starter that was not retained following his loan, returning to Como before being sold to Freiburg.
So far, Gladbach’s incomings have all been squad players rather than probable starters. Striker Isac Lidberg and left-back David Herold signed from the second division for €3.5m each. 19-year-old centre-back Jan Leszczynski joins from Legia Warsaw for €3m, and 22-year-old winger Hugo Bolin comes in from Malmö for €2m. Two free signings have been added, right-back Yukhym Konoplya from Shakhtar Donetsk and midfielder Enzo Leopold from Hannover. Now, if you don’t know any of these names, that wouldn’t surprise me, but clearly Gladbach are hoping that a few of them are good enough to stick around.
Key Player:
Having missed most of last season due to knee surgery, new captain Tim Kleindienst has a huge task on his hands. He will have to lead on the pitch for the first time at Gladbach, replace Tabaković’s goals, and lead the line as a target man by himself without the likes of Alassane Pléa to help him out.
For the uninitiated, Kleindienst is the archetype of a German striker – 6ft4, great in the air, a true poacher that learned his craft in the lower divisions. In six games for the German national team, he scored four times in Nations League games, with two in a 7:0 win against Bosnia and Herzegovina, and two in two separate games against Italy. His absence last season meant he was not in the conversation for the World Cup, but with a strong 28 goals in the previous two Bundesliga seasons (one for Heidenheim, one for Gladbach), Polanski will need him to return to form, and fast.
Predicted Line-up:
As long as Kleindienst is back to full fitness, I expect he will be leading the line with the teenager Wael Mohya and winger Franck Honorat flanking him. The rest of the line-up is pretty much unchanged.
Predicted Finish:
15th for this lot. I am utterly unconvinced by Polanski’s managerial ability, and failing to replace last season’s two starting central midfielders means that unless Jens Castrop and a badly out-of-form Florian Neuhaus can step up, this club is going nowhere fast. The bright spot is 17-year-old Wael Mohya, the attacking midfielder that could do big things this year, but it’s a lot of pressure to put on such young shoulders.
Prediction Table (so far...)
1 -
2 - Borussia Dortmund
3 - Bayer Leverkusen
4 -
5 -
6 -
7 -
8 - Union Berlin
9 -
10 -
11 - Mainz
12 -
13 -
14 -
15 - Borussia Mönchengladbach
16 -
17 - Köln
18 -
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