[2] Alemannia carries the nickname "the potato beetles" (Kartoffelkäfer) because of their striped yellow-black jerseys, which make them look like the particular insects.

In the second half of the 19th century, resident English workers and businessmen brought football, in addition to the traditional equestrian sports, into the western Rhineland.

The city of Aachen is very near the Belgian and Dutch borders and as a result Alemannia has had frequent contact with clubs from those countries.

The team played in the Rhineland-Westphalia FA and won its first championship[5] there in 1907, before joining the newly formed Westdeutsche Fussball Verband in 1909.

In 1946, after World War II and the lifting of the ban placed by Allied occupation authorities on most types of organizations in Germany, Alemannia re-constituted itself and began play in second tier Rheinbezirk.

After the formation of the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league, in 1963, Alemannia found themselves in Regionalliga West (II).

In 1965, they had another good run in German Cup competition, earning another final appearance – but were once again unsuccessful – this time losing 0–2 to Borussia Dortmund.

The whole city was in shock, but the club managed to pull through, dedicating their promotion to their late trainer and winning the Regionalliga West/Südwest (III).

The turnaround came with a new executive board under president Horst Heinrichs, trainer Dieter Hecking and manager Jörg Schmadtke.

Through improved financial management, shrewd player signings, and clever game tactics, Aachen became a power once again in the 2003–04 season.

On 16 April 2006, Alemannia became the first team to earn promotion to the Bundesliga in 2005–06, ending Aachen's 36-year absence from top-flight football.

In the middle of 2007, the club appointed former German international defender and 1990 FIFA World Champion Guido Buchwald as manager trainer, who was fired after only 14 matches.

After a short interim with Alemannia's Sportsmanger Jörg Schmadtke as headcoach, he was then replaced by Jürgen Seeberger, hardly known in Germany, in the winter break of the season.

The club played its 2004 UEFA Cup matches, however, in Cologne's RheinEnergieStadion in order to meet the stadium capacity requirements in place for the competition.