| Club: | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
| Season: | 2008–09 |
| Mgrtitle: | Head coach |
| Chrtitle: | President |
| Manager: | Jos Luhukay (until 5 October) Christian Ziege (interim, 5 – 18 October) Hans Meyer (from 18 October) |
| Chairman: | Rolf Königs |
| Stadium: | Borussia-Park |
| League: | Bundesliga |
| League Result: | 15th |
| Cup1: | DFB-Pokal |
| Cup1 Result: | Second round |
| Largest Loss: | 5–0 v Bayer Leverkusen |
| Largest Win: | 8–1 v Fichte Bielefeld |
| Highest Attendance: | 54,067 (sold out; tied between 5 teams) |
| Lowest Attendance: | 36,166 v Hannover 96 |
| Average Attendance: | 44,881 |
| League Topscorer: | Rob Friend (7) |
| Season Topscorer: | Rob Friend, Marko Marin (7) |
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| Prevseason: | 2007–08 |
| Nextseason: | 2009–10 |
The 2008–09 Borussia Mönchengladbach season was the 108th season in the club's history. They played in the Bundesliga, the top tier of German football. It was the club's first season in the top tier since their relegation from the Bundesliga in 2007.
They also took part in the DFB Pokal, Germany's top club knockout competition, where they reached the second round before being eliminated 2–0 by fellow Bundesliga side Energie Cottbus, who they coincidentally played a part in relegating later on in the season.
In the summer transfer window, Jos Luhukay notably sold German under-21 youngsters Eugen Polanski and Robert Fleßers, Danish Tor des Jahres winner Kasper Bøgelund, and Angolan international Nando Rafael, to Getafe, Mainz 05, Aalborg, and AGS, with all bar the last being free transfers. In replacement, Michael Bradley, Karim Matmour, Gal Alberman and Jean-Sébastien Jaurès signed with die Fohlen.
At the start of the season, Mönchengladbach encountered troubles in the Bundesliga, with several disappointing performances. The worst of it came in a 5–1 defeat to 12th place Hannover 96, saw manager Jos Luhukay dismissed in October with only 1 win in 7 league matches, and elimination from the DFB-Pokal by Energie Cottbus. Christian Ziege's brief one match stint as manager saw Borussia get their 4th point of the season in a 2–2 draw to Bochum away, with Hans Meyer taking the reins for the rest of the season.
In the winter transfer window, Meyer signed Belgian goalkeeper Logan Bailly from Genk, Czech national Tomáš Galásek from Baník Ostrava, and Canadian defender Paul Stalteri from Tottenham Hotspur, with Meyer selling fellow Germans Alexander Voigt to Greuther Fürth, and Sascha Rösler to 1860 Munich. In a tough final day battle, Mönchengladbach played Dortmund in the Borussia derby, while Bielefeld faced Hannover. Cottbus took on Leverkusen, and won 3–1, and as Bielefeld finished with a 1–1 draw, they went down to 20th, cementing their place next season in the 2. Bundesliga. Mönchengladbach were able to salvage a 1–1 draw in the derby, which secured Bundesliga status. Meyer escaped the drop with die Fohlen while being bottom of the league from mid December to early March. Meyer left the club at the season's close, and recently sacked Arminia Bielefeld coach Michael Frontzeck took his place.
| Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | SC Freiburg | Undisclosed | [3] | ||||
| 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | Undisclosed | [4] | ||||
| 19 | Beitar Jerusalem | Undisclosed | [5] | ||||
| 20 | Auxerre | Free | |||||
| 26 | Heerenveen | €5,000,000 | [6] | ||||
| 30 | Genk | Undisclosed | [7] | ||||
| 8 | Baník Ostrava | Undisclosed | |||||
| 13 | Tottenham Hotspur | Free | |||||
| 31 | Standard Liège | Undisclosed | [8] |
| Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date | Source | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Mainz 05 | Free | [9] | ||||
| 9 | AGS | Undisclosed | [10] | ||||
| 13 | Racing Santander | Free | [11] | ||||
| 20 | Aalborg | Free | [12] | ||||
| 6 | Getafe | Free | 4 July 2008 | [13] | |||
| 17 | Young Boys | Free | [14] | ||||
| 8 | Hansa Rostock | Loan | [15] | ||||
| 10 | 1860 Munich | Undisclosed | [16] | ||||
| 13 | Greuther Fürth | Free | [17] | ||||
| 23 | Hamburger SV | Loan | [18] | ||||
| 21 | Released | [19] | |||||
See main article: article and 2008–09 Bundesliga.
See main article: 2008–09 DFB-Pokal.
In the first round, Borussia Mönchengladbach were drawn against VfB Vichte Bielefeld.
|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards|-! colspan=12 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players transferred out during season
| Player | Bundesliga | DFB-Pokal | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | FW | 16 |  | Rob Friend | 7 | 0 | 7 | |
| MF | 11 | Marko Marin | 4 | 3 | 7 | |||
| 3 | MF | 26 |  | Michael Bradley | 5 | 0 | 5 | |
| 4 | DF | 31 |  | Dante | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| FW | 9 |  | Roberto Colautti | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| DF | 4 | Roel Brouwers | 2 | 1 | 3 | |||
| MF | 29 | Alexander Baumjohann | 3 | 0 | 3 | |||
| FW | 40 | Karim Matmour | 3 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 9 | FW | 11 | Sascha Rösler | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| DF | 5 |  | Steve Gohouri | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| DF | 3 |  | Filip Daems | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 12 | MF | 37 | Tony Jantschke | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| DF | 15 | Thomas Kleine | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| MF | 28 | Johannes van den Bergh | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| DF | 18 | Tobias Levels | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| DF | 17 | Patrick Paauwe | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| FW | 27 | Oliver Neuville | 1 | 0 | 1 | |||
| — | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 39 | 8 | 47 | |||||