Early years: 1905–1931 At a time when football became more and more popular among broad levels of the population,
1. Fussball-Club Schweinfurt 1905 was founded on 5 May 1905 by a group of sports enthusiasts. The club's first chairman, Pepi Popp, designed the still unchanged FC 05 crest. and in 1931, when it became Kreisliga Unterfranken champion.
Years of excellence: 1931–1963 vs.
Europe XI at
Highbury (1938): The
Duke of Kent (left) welcomes
Andreas Kupfer. The scene is observed by
Albin Kitzinger, second from the left. Schweinfurt 05 finally gained first class status again with its entry into the
Bezirksliga Bayern in 1931. After introduction of the
Gauliga system in 1933, the club became member of the top-flight
Gauliga Bayern thanks to finishing 3rd in Bezirksliga Bayern Nord. In addition, the team succeeded in winning the 1933 Bavarian Cup championship, but lost 1–2 to
VfB Stuttgart in the subsequent Southern German Cup final. The team failed in the round of 16 of the
1942 German football championship after a 1–2 loss to
SG SS Straßburg. Schweinfurt made a semi-final appearance in the
1936 Tschammerpokal, when it was defeated 2–3 by
FC Schalke 04, the closest it ever came to winning a national title. Again in 1936, the club moved into its newly constructed stadium, the
Willy-Sachs-Stadion (today:
Sachs-Stadion), a donation by local
industrialist and patron
Willy Sachs. At that time, FC 05 midfielders
Albin Kitzinger and
Andreas 'Ander' Kupfer became renowned in international football as they formed one of the best half-back duos in Europe. Kitzinger distinguished himself with assuredness on the ball and the calmness in which he distributed the ball. Kupfer was a player that fascinated the crowds with his elegant ways of playing. He was a master of kicking the ball with just moving his ankle joint. Kitzinger and Kupfer were an essential part of the famous
Germany national team who defeated
Denmark 8–0 in
Breslau on 16 May 1937. The club temporarily had been dissolved in May 1945 under pressure from the occupying powers. The club stayed in the Oberliga for the duration of the league's existence until the
Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, was founded in 1963. Schweinfurt reached the round of the last sixteen of the
1954–55 DFB-Pokal, where it lost 0–1 in the replay against FC Schalke 04 after a 1–1 draw in the first match. On the occasion of the club's 50th anniversary in 1955, Schweinfurt could demonstrate its level when the team defeated German champion
Rot-Weiss Essen 3–1, and achieved a 1–1 draw against
Everton F.C. from English
Football League First Division. The club finally earned direct promotion to tier-four Regionalliga Bayern in the
2012–13 season by taking the championship in the Bayernliga northern division. Schweinfurt's first three Regionalliga years, however, were characterized by a permanent but successful struggle against relegation.
Recent years: 2016–today :
Nabil Bentaleb (
FC Schalke 04) and
Adam Jabiri (FC Schweinfurt 05) In 2016, the FC 05 first team was spun off into
1. FC Schweinfurt 1905 Fußball GmbH. By means of the reorganization, the club again established professional structures to pave the way back to higher leagues. Schweinfurt experienced an upturn in the
2016–17 season and finished 8th in the Regionalliga Bayern. In addition, the team succeeded in winning the
Bavarian Cup after a 1–0 victory over
Wacker Burghausen in the final. In the
2017–18 Regionalliga, Schweinfurt were unable to match the champions
TSV 1860 München, and finished 3rd. Schweinfurt defeated 2. Bundesliga club
SV Sandhausen 2–1 in the
2017–18 DFB-Pokal first round, but then lost 4–0 to the
eventual winners,
Eintracht Frankfurt. In the same
season, Schweinfurt successfully defended the
Bavarian Cup after a 3–1 victory over
SpVgg Bayreuth in the final. Schweinfurt finished 4th in the
2018–19 Regionalliga. In the
2018–19 DFB-Pokal first round, the team lost 2–0 to
the previous season's Bundesliga runner-up,
Schalke. Due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Germany, the original
2019–20 Regionalliga Bayern season was extended until spring 2021, and the
2020–21 season was cancelled. In July 2020, the league leaders
Türkgücü München were promoted to the
3. Liga, while Schweinfurt, as runners-up, qualified for the
2020–21 DFB-Pokal. In the first round cup match, Schweinfurt were defeated 4–1, again by
Bundesliga club Schalke. Schweinfurt managed to win the championship of the finally discontinued
2019–21 Regionalliga Bayern when the club prevailed in a play-off group of the top three eligible teams, with
Viktoria Aschaffenburg and SpVgg Bayreuth. However, Schweinfurt missed out on promotion to the
3. Liga after a 2–0 defeat on aggregate in the
play-offs against
TSV Havelse from the
Regionalliga Nord. The team finished in the top half of the table in the following two Regionalliga Bayern seasons. In the
2023–24 season, Schweinfurt regained amateur status for financial reasons, and finished 11th in Regionalliga Bayern. The team won the division
the following season to promote to the 3. Liga, and thus returned to a professional football league after 23 years in lower divisions. ==Seasons==