In the early 1890s English and Austrian gardeners working for Nathaniel Anselm von Rothschild began to play football on his estates.

To avoid further damage to his flowers Nathaniel ceded them a pasture nearby and also granted the team's blue-yellow kits, former jockey costumes of his riding stable.

In 1897, the chairman of the Cricketers donated the Challenge Cup establishing a competition open to all football clubs in what was then Austria-Hungary, drawing teams from Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

The club gradually returned to form and consistently finished in the top half of the league table through the 20s winning Austrian Cup titles in 1929 and 1930 before finally claiming the national championship in 1931.

First division Austrian teams played in the newly formed Gauliga Ostmark as part of the league structure established under the Third Reich in the re-organization of German football in 1933.

In 1942, Vienna captured the divisional title in what was by then known as the Gauliga Donau-Alpenland (Ostmark) and went all the way to the final played on 4 July 1942 in Berlin where they dropped a 0–2 decision to Schalke 04 the dominant side of German football in the era.

The club did, however, have a successful Tschammerpokal run, winning the 1943 competition by defeating Luftwaffen-SV Hamburg 3–2 in extra time to become the second Austrian side to take the cup by following in the footsteps of Rapid Wien, victors in 1938.

A third Gauliga title in 1944 again put the club into Germany's national playoffs where this time they went out 2–3 in the quarterfinals to eventual champions Dresdner SC.

As World War II drew to a close and Allied armies advanced into Germany league play collapsed with Vienna still in a tight race again looking to repeat as division champions.

The expansion of the first division from ten to sixteen teams in 1982 allowed Vienna back into the senior competition, but their inconsistent play continued.

A highlight of this time was a strong championship round performance in 1988 that led to a fourth-place finish that earned the club a UEFA Cup appearance.

Vienna next enjoyed a strong run through the 1997 Austrian Cup competition which took them to the final where they lost 2–1 to first division side Sturm Graz.

However, under new coach Alfred Tatar managed to win their relegation matches against the champions of the Regionalliga Ost, SC-ESV Parndorf 1919, 3–0 and 2–1 respectively, and maintained their second-tier status.