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 Karlsruher SC, 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
Club Location Ground Capacity Berlin Olympiastadion 100,000 Bochum Ruhrstadion 40,000 Braunschweig Eintracht-Stadion 38,000 Bremen Weserstadion 32,000 Dortmund Westfalenstadion 54,000 Duisburg Wedaustadion 38,500 Düsseldorf Rheinstadion 59,600 Frankfurt Waldstadion 62,000 Hamburg Volksparkstadion 80,000 Kaiserslautern Stadion Betzenberg 42,000 Cologne Müngersdorfer Stadion 61,000 Mönchengladbach Bökelbergstadion 34,500 Munich Olympiastadion 80,000 Munich Olympiastadion 80,000 Saarbrücken Ludwigspark 40,000 Gelsenkirchen Parkstadion 70,000 Hamburg Wilhelm-Koch-Stadion 32,000 Stuttgart Neckarstadion 72,000
League table
Results
Top goalscorers 24 goals Dieter Müller (1. FC Köln) Gerd Müller (FC Bayern Munich)
21 goals Klaus Toppmöller (1. FC Kaiserslautern)
20 goals Manfred Burgsmüller (Borussia Dortmund) Klaus Fischer (FC Schalke 04)
18 goals Jupp Heynckes (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
17 goals Karl-Heinz Granitza (Hertha BSC) Allan Simonsen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
16 goals Franz Gerber (FC St. Pauli) Rudolf Seliger (MSV Duisburg)
Champion squad
1. FC KölnGoalkeeper: Harald Schumacher (34). Defenders: Roland Gerber (34 / 2); Gerd Strack (32 / 2); Herbert Zimmermann (32 / 2); Harald Konopka (31 / 3); Bernhard Cullmann (27 / 6); Herbert Hein (4); Rainer Nicot (1). Midfielders: Heinz Flohe (34 / 14); Herbert Neumann (34 / 8); Heinz Simmet (23 / 1); Yasuhiko Okudera (20 / 4); Dieter Prestin (14 / 3); Holger Willmer (11 / 1); Jürgen Glowacz (5). Forwards: Dieter Müller (33 / 24); Roger Van Gool (32 / 12); Hannes Löhr (8 / 1). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
Manager: Hennes Weisweiler.
On the roster but have not played in a league game: Gerald Ehrmann; Wolfgang Weber; Heinz Pape; Norbert Schmitz; Preben Elkjær ; Klaus Kösling.
Attendances
Source:
No. Team Attendance Change Highest 1 VfB Stuttgart 55,559 145.8% 72,000 2 Borussia Dortmund 37,843 -12.6% 54,000 3 Schalke 04 35,694 -5.0% 70,000 4 1. FC Köln 35,235 9.1% 60,000 5 Hamburger SV 31,235 -9.8% 61,000 6 Bayern München 30,876 -2.1% 77,000 7 TSV 1860 27,812 38.3% 65,000 8 Borussia Mönchengladbach 26,059 3.7% 55,000 9 Eintracht Frankfurt 26,018 8.5% 58,000 10 Hertha BSC 25,047 -4.9% 80,000 11 1. FC Kaiserslautern 24,676 21.8% 34,000 12 VfL Bochum 23,888 48.8% 36,000 13 1. FC Saarbrücken 23,435 -18.6% 34,000 14 Fortuna 95 22,576 10.3% 53,000 15 Werder Bremen 19,947 6.5% 36,000 16 Eintracht Braunschweig 19,235 -11.6% 35,000 17 MSV Duisburg 18,529 -6.4% 35,000 18 FC St. Pauli 13,071 74.4% 28,000
References
External links DFB Bundesliga archive 1977/1978