Under the leadership of Ferdinand-Wilhelm Fricke, then only 15 years old, 24 young men formed the first football or rugby club in the country, a distinction was not made in Germany back then.

[3] In 1899, Fricke discovered an ideal spot for the club to play at, Am Schnellen Graben, still the home of DFV today.

A year later, the Verband Hannoverscher Fußball-Vereine (Association of Hanover football clubs) was formed and DFV won its first championship.

In 1929, the club changed its name to Deutscher Sportverein Hannover gegründet 1878 e.V., reflecting the fact that it didn't play football but rugby.

On 7 June 1964, Germany's oldest rugby club finally earned its first German championship, beating FC St. Pauli 11–0 in Offenbach am Main.

In the 2014–15 season the club finished first in the north-east championship group but was knocked out by SC Neuenheim in the quarter-finals of the play-offs, losing 42–21.

[8] The club had four players selected for the German under-18 team at the 2009 European Under-18 Rugby Union Championship, these being Michail Tyumenev, Nicolas Müller, Dennis Denzin and Phil Szczesny.

[9] Of these, Phil Szczesny and Nicolas Müller also played at the 2010 tournament, while Adrian de Riz and Pascal Fischer were new additions.