With the oldest parent club of the "Viktoria", the
FC Germania Kalk, founded on the 1st of July 1904 it is one of the oldest football clubs in the city. In 1909
Germania merged with
FC Kalk, which was founded in 1905, to form the
SV Kalk 04 and in 1911 this club was, in turn, united with
Mülheimer FC to create
VfR Mülheim-Kalk 04. The club was renamed
VfR Köln 04 rrh. in 1918 after the previously independent towns of
Kalk and
Mülheim were incorporated into Cologne. In 1926 the
VfR won its first
Western German football championship and entry to the
1926 German football championship. After the re-organization of German football in 1933 under the
Third Reich into sixteen top flight divisions,
VfR played in the
Gauliga Mittelrhein taking titles there in 1935 and 1937 but then performed poorly at the national level. In 1941 The Gauliga Mittelrhein was split into the
Gauliga Moselland and
Gauliga Köln-Aachen, with
VfR playing in the latter division. Two years later the club joined
Mülheimer SV to play as the combined wartime side (Kriegsspielgemeinschaft)
KSG VfR 04 Köln/Mülheimer SV 06.
Mülheim had also played in the Gauliga Mittelrhein since 1933 claiming titles of its own in 1934 and 1940, and had similarly poor results at the national level. Play in the Gauliga Köln-Aachen was suspended in the 1944–45 season as Allied armies advanced into Germany at the end of World War II. After the war
VfR Köln resumed playing first division football in the Oberliga West, but lasted only a single season before being relegated. In 1949 the team merged with its wartime partner
Mülheimer SV to become
SC Rapid Köln and played in the
2. Oberliga West (II) until falling to third-tier football after 1952.
Rapid joined local rivals
SC Preußen Dellbrück forming
SC Viktoria 04 Köln in 1957. Of these sides,
Preußen Dellbrück was most successful, advancing to the semi-finals of the national championships in 1950 before going out against
Kickers Offenbach in a replay of their scoreless first match. In 1963, the city selected Viktoria as its representative in the
Fairs Cup, the forerunner of today's
UEFA Cup, but the club was unable to capitalize on the opportunity. The team played as a second and third division side with generally unremarkable results until the 1994 merger with
SC Brück that created
SCB Preußen Köln, the new team being named after predecessor
Preußen Dellbrück. The new club earned a second-place finish in their division in 2000, but quickly tumbled to the
Oberliga Nordrhein (IV), even spending one season in fifth division
Verbandsliga Mittelrhein. The pattern continued after the team was re-christened
SCB Viktoria Köln in 2002. Just two years later, Viktoria was relegated to the Verbandsliga (V). In the 2009/10 season the team was relegated to the
Landesliga (VI). The SCB Viktoria filed for
insolvency on 1 August in 2010. On 22 June 2010, a new club called
FC Viktoria Köln was founded which took over the youth teams of now insolvent SCB Viktoria Köln. Although it was expected that the new club can begin in the
Landesliga, where SCB Viktoria had played at last, they were forced by the
association to start in the lowest league,
Kreisliga D. Nonetheless, on 24 February 2011 the members of the
FC Viktoria decided to incorporate the spun-off senior football department of FC Junkersdorf into the new club. Junkersdorf became champion of the 2010–11
Mittelrheinliga and so FC Viktoria Köln could start in 2011–12 in the
NRW-Liga. Viktoria became champions of the
2011–12 NRW-Liga with a one-point lead over
Sportfreunde Siegen and was also crowned top scorer with
Mike Wunderlich, who scored 32 goals. The title led to promotion to the
Regionalliga West (IV). On 29 April 2017, Viktoria became champions of the Regionalliga West on match day 31 of the
2016–17 season. Viktoria lost the home match in the
promotion round to the
3. Liga against
Carl Zeiss Jena 2:3, and although the club managed a 1:0 win in
Jena, Viktoria missed out on promotion due to the
away goals rule. In the last home game of the
2018–19 Regionalliga West season on 18 May 2019, Viktoria Köln won 1:0 against
Borussia Mönchengladbach II to gain promotion to the 3. Liga. ==Crest==