Lucien Favre resigned as Borussia Moenchengladbach coach on Sunday to leave the club in chaos after losing all of their opening five league games to go bottom of the Bundesliga.

Gladbach's 1-0 defeat at Cologne on Saturday was the final straw for the 57-year-old after four years in charge.

Gladbach, who won the last of their five Bundesliga titles in the 1970s, have yet to accept his resignation, but Favre is set to be the first German league coach to part company with his team this season.

"We are totally stunned," Gladbach's vice-president Rainer Bohnhof told SID, an AFP subsidiary.

"We have talked about this all day and rejected his offer to resign, because we were of the opinion that we could succeed together, but then he went out on his own (and announced his resignation)."

Gladbach face two league games this week at home to Augsburg on Wednesday then away to VfB Stuttgart, who are also winless, on Saturday and it is unclear who will now coach the team.

The Swiss steered Gladbach to third in the Bundesliga last season to qualify for the Champions League, where they lost their opening game 3-0 at Seville last Tuesday.

They have conceded 12 goals in this season's Bundesliga, scoring just twice.

"After careful consideration and thorough analysis, I have come to the conclusion... to resign from my position as head coach of Borussia Moenchengladbach," said Favre in a statement.

"I no longer have the feeling of being the perfect coach for the club."

Gladbach's director of sport Max Eberl has said they will try to convince Favre to stay as the team face Manchester City at Borussia Park in ten days in the Champions League, then German Cup winners Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga.

"We are still totally convinced that Lucien is the perfect coach for Borussia and we will survive together with him in this very difficult current situation," said Eberl in a club statement.

Favre spent two years at Hertha Berlin from 2007-09 having won the Swiss league title with FC Zurich in 2006 and 2007 and was voted Germany's manager of the year in 2009.