1. FC Saarbrücken

1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken (German: 1. Fußball-Club Saarbrücken e. V.) is a German football club based in Saarbrücken, Saarland. The club plays in the 3. Liga, which is the third tier of football in Germany.

History

The club began its existence as the football department of Turnverein Malstatt formed in 1903. That department split off in 1907 to form the independent football club FV Malstatt-Burbach and on 1 April 1909 was renamed FV Saarbrücken.

The club became part of the tier-one Kreisliga Saar in 1919 where it played with moderate success. A second-place finish in the league's last season in 1922–23 was their best result. From 1923, the club played in the Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar – Saar division, winning the title in 1927–28 but later missing out on qualification to the new national first division Gauliga in 1933.

Nazi era (1933–1945)

The team did make its way to first division play in 1935 in the Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen regional divisions established in the re-organization of German football in the Nazi era. A league shuffle saw them in the Gauliga Südwest-Saarpfalz in 1940 and they won the division the next year. In 1943, they again won their division – now called the Gauliga Westmark – and advanced through the playoff rounds to the national final where they were defeated 0–3 by Dresdner SC. The next year, they only made it as far as the quarterfinals where they were put out by 1. FC Nürnberg. During the latter years of World War II from 1943 to 1945, the club played as part of the combined wartime side Kriegsspielgemeinschaft Saarbrücken with SC Altenkessel.