1. FC Frankfurt

1.FC Frankfurt originally began as the football department of sports club SV VP Vorwärts Leipzig. The sports club was founded in 1951, and its first team was admitted to the 1951–52 DDR-Oberliga.

One of the characteristics of East German football after World War II, under the Soviet occupation and the socialist East German regime, was the willingness of the authorities to manipulate teams in various ways for political or other reasons.[2] The first team of SV Vorwärts der KVP Leipzig was relocated to East Berlin in 1953, where it continued as SV Vorwärts der KVP Berlin.[3] The football team that had begun the 1952–53 DDR-Oberliga in Leipzig, thus finished the season based in Berlin. The sports club would undergo several name changes in the following years. In September 1953, it was renamed ZSK Vorwärts der KVP Berlin, in March 1954 ZSK Vorwärts Berlin, in October 1956 ZASK Vorwärts Berlin and in February 1957 ASK Vorwärts Berlin.

The cup-winning team of 1970

From the 1954 season, the club began a run of success that included an FDGB-Pokal (East German Cup) that year, East German championships in 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1965, as well as losing appearances in the 1956 FDGB-Pokal, and the 1957 and 1959 national finals. Their success continued after the team was again renamed as the football department of ASK Vorwärts Berlin was separated from the sports club and reformed as FC Vorwärts Berlin, one of the new centralized football clubs formed to increase the level of performance throughout the country. Vorwärts won another two championships (1966, 1969) and in 1970 again made a losing appearance in the FDGB-Pokal final. Throughout the entire period from 1951–71, the side played in the DDR Oberliga (top tier).[3]

In 1971, the club was moved again, this time from the capital to Frankfurt (Oder) on the German-Polish border, to replace the local secret police-sponsored side SG Dynamo, which was then disbanded. Vorwärts then enjoyed another decent run in the 1980s, going to the UEFA Cup four times (where they were twice knocked out by West German clubs, (Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart). In 1983 they finished second nationally.[4]

After German reunification in 1990, the club dropped its affiliation with the army and became FC Victoria Frankfurt/Oder. After financial problems and re-organization in 1993 the side emerged as Frankfurter FC Viktoria (FFC Viktoria 91). In the early 1990s, they played a couple of seasons in tier III before slipping to division IV and V level play. The side then played in the Brandenburg-Liga (VI) before, on 1 July 2012, merging with MSV Eintracht Frankfurt to become 1. FC Frankfurt.[4][1] The new club took over Viktoria in the Brandenburg-Liga and was aiming for promotion to the higher leagues. Their first success was winning the league in 2015, earning promotion to the NOFV-Oberliga for the first time in 12 years.

The forerunners of Viktoria out of Berlin bearing the name Vorwärts (1953–71) were not related to the traditional club Berliner FC Vorwärts 1890, one of the founding members of the DFB. The name "Vorwärts" was in common use in East Germany for teams associated with state security forces, including the police and the army. The E.V. in the present club's name stands for the predecessor clubs' names, Eintracht and Viktoria respectively.

Historical chart of 1. FC Frankfurt league performance

• DDR-Meister: 1958, 1960, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1969
• FDGB-Pokal: 1954, 1970
• DDR-Liga Meister (II): 1954, 1979, 1990
• Verbandsliga Brandenburg/Brandenburg-Liga Meister (VI):1997, 2003, 2015

• Berlin derby

• Official website (in German)
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer