The club achieved national fame in the 1930s through its football team, which won the
Central German football championship in 1932 with a 3–2 victory over
Dresdner SC, and only failed in the quarter-finals of the
1932 German football championship at
Bayern Munich. In 1933, the Chemnitz team reached the final of the Central German Championship again, but were defeated 1–3 by the Dresdner SC. In the subsequent final round of the German championship in 1933, PSV retired in the first round after a 1–6 defeat against FSV Frankfurt. The
Gauliga Sachsen was inaugurated in 1933, and PSV Chemntiz finished third in their debut season 1933–34, behind Dresdner SC and
VfB Leipzig. On 13 May 1934, PSV moved to a new stadium in Planitzstraße, later known as
Stadion an der Gellertstraße, which opened with a 5–1 win in front of 25,000 spectators against
SpVgg Fürth. In 1935 and 1936, PSV Chemnitz won the
Gauliga Sachsen. In the final round of the German championship in 1935, the team made it to the semi-finals, but lost 2–3 against
FC Schalke 04 at the Düsseldorf Rheinstadion. In 1935, PSV won the Saxon Cup, defeating Sportfreunde 01 Dresden 6–1 in the final. In 1943 the club was relegated from the Gauliga Sachsen. In 1944, they were promoted to the Chemnitz Gauliga, which was cancelled after three games in the 1944/45 season. Another highlight in the club's history is the 5–2 win against
Real Madrid CF in 1934, in which the player
Erwin Helmchen scored three goals. In the 1935–36 Reichsbundpokal (
de), PSV won against
Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen team in the final, with Helmchen scoring nine goals in total. In the
1936 German football championship group stage, PSV defeated Schalke 3–2 in front of 40,000 spectators in
Dortmund's
Stadion Rote Erde. However, Schalke managed to win 2–1 against PSV at
Ostragehege to advance to the next round on goal difference. PSV was runner-up in the 1936–37 season, then third in 1938 and 1941, but it was no longer enough to make another entry into the final round of the German championship.
Notable players •
Ernst Wilimowski, played four of his eight games for the
Germany national team while at CPSV •
Erwin Helmchen, proficient all-time goalscorer •
Walter Rose Honours •
Central German football championship :Champions: 1932 •
Gauliga Sachsen :Champions: 1935, 1936 •
Saxon Cup :Winners: 1935 == Handball ==