The club was established 2 December 1899 as Chemnitzer Sportclub Britannia and was a founding member of the German Football Association (Deutscher Fußball Bund) at Leipzig in 1900.

The team was renamed SC Britannia Chemnitz in April 1900 and through the first two decades of the century made regular appearances in the playoff rounds of the Verband Mitteldeutscher Ballspiel-Vereine (Middle German Football League), but was generally unable to advance past the semi-finals.

In 1927, they finished as vice-champions to VfB Leipzig and then advanced to the opening round of the national playoffs as regional cup winners, where they were put out by 1.

Chemnitz fell to a mid-table side as play in the Gauliga Sachsen came to be almost completely dominated by Dresden to near the end of World War II.

As the war overcame that part of the country the Gauliga was broken up into a number of smaller city-based divisions and play in the 1944–45 season was incomplete.