Kaiserslautern

Early years through World War II

Two of the club's predecessors, Bavaria and FC 1900 Kaiserslautern, were part of the Westkreis-Liga (I) when this league was formed in 1908, with the latter winning the first league. The new FV Kaiserslautern finished as runners-up in the league in 1910 and 1912. The team reached tier one in the new Kreisliga Saar in 1919, the Kreisliga Pfalz in 1920 and the Bezirksliga Rhein-Saar in 1931. Throughout the 1930s, they spent time in both the Bezirksliga and the upper level Gauliga Südwest, one of sixteen top flight divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under Nazi Germany.

The club's performance improved after 1939, winning the Gauliga Südwest/Staffel Saarpfalz title, but losing the overall division title to Staffel Mainhessen winners Kickers Offenbach. In the 1941–42 season the Gauliga Südwest was split into the Gauliga Hessen-Nassau and the Gauliga Westmark, and Kaiserslautern took the Westmark title, going on to play for the first time in the national final rounds. They were knocked out 3–9 by eventual champions Schalke 04.

The team finished last in their division in 1944. The following year saw the collapse of league play due to the effects of the Second World War.

Postwar play

After the war, southwestern Germany was part of the occupation zone held by the French. Teams there were organized into northern and southern divisions, and played to determine which of them would join the new Oberliga. French authorities were slow to loosen their control over play in their zones of occupation, and, in the Saarland in particular, teams in the French areas took longer to join the re-established Germany national league than in other parts of the country. 1. FC Kaiserslautern resumed play in the Oberliga Südwest in 1945, and finished the season just one point behind 1. FC Saarbrücken. The next season, they won the Gruppe Nord in 1947. FCK's Fritz and Ottmar Walter scored 46 goals between them, more than any other entire team.

Success in the 1950s and entry to the Bundesliga

This marked the beginning of the club's dominance of the Oberliga Südwest as they went on to win the division title eleven times over the next twelve seasons. FCK advanced to Germany's first post-war national final in 1948, but lost 1–2 to 1. FC Nürnberg.

Kaiserslautern became a presence on the national scene through the early 1950s, winning their first German championship in 1951 with a 2–1 victory of their own, this time over Preußen Münster. They won a second title in 1953, followed by two losing final appearances in 1954 and 1955. The club also sent five players to the national side for the 1954 FIFA World Cup, which West Germany won in a final sometimes referred to as The Miracle of Bern.

Kaiserslautern lost 0–2 to Werder Bremen in the 1961 DFB-Pokal final. The side recovered its form in time to again win their division on the eve of the formation in 1963 of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league. This secured them one of the 16 places in the new top flight circuit. They were German Cup runners-up in 1972, 1976, and 1981, and were UEFA Cup semi-finalists in 1982 (losing narrowly to eventual winners IFK Göteborg). The club finally won the domestic Cup in 1990, and followed up this achievement the following season with their first Bundesliga championship. Both times the manager was Karl-Heinz Feldkamp.

1996–2004

1. FCK won a second German Cup in 1996, but were relegated to 2. Bundesliga with a 16th-place finish just one week before the Cup final. At the time, Kaiserslautern was one of only four of the original 16 teams that had played in each Bundesliga season since the inception of the league, having never been relegated. This group also included Eintracht Frankfurt (who went down in the same season), 1. FC Köln (down in 1998), and "the Dinosaur", Hamburger SV, whose spell ended in 2018.

FCK won the 2. Bundesliga championship and earned promotion to the Bundesliga at the first attempt in 1997, They then immediately went on to win the national championship under veteran coach Otto Rehhagel — the only newly promoted team to win the Bundesliga title in German football history. They also played in the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League, where they topped a group comprising PSV, Benfica and HJK Helsinki, but were eliminated in the quarter-finals by compatriots Bayern Munich, who also took back the domestic title (FCK finished 5th).

Despite coming close to a UEFA Cup final in 2001, Kaiserslautern was close to bankruptcy, and at the centre of a public controversy. The club's management – Jürgen Friedrich, Robert Wieschemann and Gerhard Herzog – were forced out. A new team president, Rene C. Jäggi, sold the Fritz-Walter-Stadion to an entity owned by the Land Rheinland-Pfalz and the city of Kaiserslautern, while a new coach, Erik Gerets, led the team out of last place and saved them from relegation.

At the start of the 2003–04 season, the club received a three-point penalty imposed by the German Football Association for financial misconduct. Gerets was fired and replaced by Kurt Jara. Jara was unpopular with the FCK faithful for his defensive football philosophy. Jara quit the position before the season ended, citing irreconcilable differences with club management.