1977–78 Bundesliga


The 1977–78 Bundesliga was the 15th season of the Bundesliga, West Germany's premier football league. It began on 6 August 1977 and ended on 29 April 1978. Borussia Mönchengladbach were the defending champions.

Competition modus

Every team played two games against each other team, one at home and one away. Teams received two points for a win and one point for a draw. If two or more teams were tied on points, places were determined by goal difference and, if still tied, by goals scored. The team with the most points were crowned champions while the three teams with the fewest points were relegated to their respective 2. Bundesliga divisions.

Team changes to 1976–77

, Tennis Borussia Berlin and Rot-Weiss Essen were relegated to the 2. Bundesliga after finishing in the last three places. They were replaced by FC St. Pauli, winners of the 2. Bundesliga Northern Division, VfB Stuttgart, winners of the Southern Division and TSV 1860 Munich, who won a promotion play-off series against Arminia Bielefeld.

Season overview

The 1977–78 season, which ended earlier than usual due to the upcoming World Cup in Argentina, ended with 1. FC Köln winning the title, but the decision had been closer than anybody would have imagined. The team from Cologne was level on points with Borussia Mönchengladbach before the final round of matches of the season, but had a ten-goal lead in goal difference over their rivals. Nevertheless, Mönchengladbach managed to close the gap with a 12–0 victory in their last match against Borussia Dortmund. However, the team around Jupp Heynckes and Berti Vogts missed out on the title by three goals because Köln won 5–0 against FC St. Pauli at the same time.

Team overview

ClubLocationGroundCapacity
BerlinOlympiastadion100,000
BochumRuhrstadion40,000
BraunschweigEintracht-Stadion38,000
BremenWeserstadion32,000
DortmundWestfalenstadion54,000
DuisburgWedaustadion38,500
DüsseldorfRheinstadion59,600
FrankfurtWaldstadion62,000
HamburgVolksparkstadion80,000
KaiserslauternStadion Betzenberg42,000
CologneMüngersdorfer Stadion61,000
MönchengladbachBökelbergstadion34,500
MunichOlympiastadion80,000
MunichOlympiastadion80,000
SaarbrückenLudwigspark40,000
GelsenkirchenParkstadion70,000
HamburgWilhelm-Koch-Stadion32,000
StuttgartNeckarstadion72,000

League table

Results

Top goalscorers

;24 goals
;21 goals
;20 goals
;18 goals
;17 goals
;16 goals
1. FC Köln
Goalkeeper: Harald Schumacher.

Defenders: Roland Gerber ; Gerhard Strack ; Herbert Zimmermann ; Harald Konopka ; Bernhard Cullmann ; Herbert Hein ; Rainer Nicot.

Midfielders: Heinz Flohe ; Herbert Neumann ; Heinz Simmet ; Yasuhiko Okudera ; Dieter Prestin ; Holger Willmer ; Jürgen Glowacz.

Forwards: Dieter Müller ; Roger Van Gool ; Hannes Löhr.

'
Manager: Hennes Weisweiler.
On the roster but have not played in a league game:''' Gerald Ehrmann; Wolfgang Weber; Heinz Pape; Norbert Schmitz; Preben Elkjær Larsen ; Klaus Kösling.