Bundesliga club Gladbach is in mourning
Ulrik Le Fevre and Friedhelm Frontzeck are dead
February 24, 2024, 4:40 p.m
Before the kick-off of the 22nd matchday, Borussia Mönchengladbach announced two sad pieces of news: The Bundesliga club is mourning the loss of two players who celebrated great success with the club.
Bundesliga soccer team Borussia Mönchengladbach mourns the loss of its former players Ulrik Le Fevre and Friedhelm Frontzeck. The Dane Le Fevre was part of the Fohlenelf from 1969 to 1972 and was involved in Gladbach’s first two championships. Frontzeck, father of coach Michael Frontzeck, won the DFB Cup with Borussia in 1960. The club will “always preserve a worthy memory of both players,” said Borussia. Le Fevre died in his native Denmark at the age of 77, Frontzeck was 85 years old.
Le Fevre scored 21 goals in 90 Bundesliga games for coach Hennes Weisweiler’s team, and in 1971 he scored the first “Goal of the Year” by the ARD “Sportschau” in a 7-0 win against Schalke 04. After three years at Bökelberg, he moved on to the top Belgian club FC Brugge and ended his career at his hometown club Vejle BK. “Ulrik Le Fevre was a frequent and welcome guest at Borussia Park until recently,” writes the club. “The last time he attended the Fohlen’s home game against Heidenheim was in October with his son.”
Frontzeck played 50 games for Gladbach in the then first-class Oberliga West from 1959 to 1963 before moving to Venlo. A year later, Frontzeck ended his career at the age of 25. “Friedhelm always had a saying on his lips and brought humor to the team,” said his teammate Uli Kohn once in an interview with the club magazine “FohlenEcho”. “Nowadays you would say that he was very important for the atmosphere within the team and the dressing room.” Friedhelm Frontzeck’s son Michael played 291 of his 436 Bundesliga games for Borussia Mönchengladbach from 1983 onwards.
The club announced that he remained connected to Borussia Mönchengladbach – “at the last membership meeting he was honored for 65 years of membership,” the Bundesliga club wrote in its obituary.