Borussia Mönchengladbach 12–0 Borussia Dortmund

[7] Borussia Dortmund, on the other hand, were struggling to gain ground in their second consecutive season in the Bundesliga after promotion in 1976.

Three games previously, the club had secured their Bundesliga status for the following year with a 2–0 away win over FC Schalke 04.

[10] The two teams had drawn 3–3 at Dortmund's Westfalenstadion in December 1977, with Gladbach only claiming a point through an equalising goal in the 89th minute.

Although Mönchengladbach were not anticipating to win what would have been their sixth Bundesliga title,[citation needed] they were, nonetheless, highly motivated going into the game.

"After further goals from Heynckes, substitute Ewald Lienen and Christian Kulik, the match finished with a final score of 12–0.

[15] The supporters of St. Pauli had become skeptical when the intermediate results from Mönchengladbach had been announced and started to cheer for the team from Cologne.

[2][15] Sigi Held was named as his replacement ad interim, and Carl-Heinz Rühl became the new coach on a permanent basis.

He knew what would happen, and it wasn't even his fault, but Rehhagel would be made the scapegoat to save face for the club.Borussia Dortmund fined all of their players 2000[1]–2500[20] Deutsche Mark for their shoddy performance.

"[1] Borussia Mönchengladbach's Herbert Wimmer, for whom the 12–0 victory was his final Bundesliga game,[2] said in an interview that he was happy the club did not win the league that season, because it could have lent more support to speculations of match-fixing.

[2] The German FA made their own enquiries and interviewed the Dortmund players,[20] giving them a dressing-down for their unsporting behaviour,[20] but chose not to press any charges.