They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from the former East Germany after German reunification and have made several appearances in the top-flight Bundesliga.

The area around Lauter, near the Czech border, was well represented in East German football by competitive sides, including Wismut Aue, Fortschritt Meerane and Motor Zwickau, so the footballers of BSG Empor Lauter were delegated to Rostock, over the futile[tone] protests of the team's local supporters.

The wholesale transfer of the Lauterers to Rostock part way through the 1954–55 season led to the disappearance of that association from play.

Newly formed SC Empor Rostock took the place of the former Lauter-based club in first division play in November 1954.

The re-organization of East German sports in 1965 led to the association's football department becoming independent as Fußball Club Hansa Rostock, which was designated as one of the country's 10 dedicated football club intended to groom talent for the development of a strong East Germany national team.

The new club's name acknowledged Rostock's history as one of the major trading centres of northern Europe's Hanseatic League.

[4] And the club would be patronaged by the SED First Secretary of Bezirk Rostock, as well as future Free German Trade Union Federation chairman and Politburo member Harry Tisch.

[5][6] By the 1970s, the club was consistently finishing in the lower half of the league table and was relegated to the second division DDR-Liga for a single season on three occasions late in the decade.

In spite of frequent placings in the bottom-half of the league table, they would persist as the only former East German side able to consistently challenge the well-heeled[tone] clubs of the west.

On 1 December 2002, Rostock became the first club to field six foreigners from the same country in a Bundesliga match (Rade Prica, Marcus Lantz, Peter Wibrån, Andreas Jakobsson, Magnus Arvidsson and Joakim Persson – all Swedes).

They were unable to recover despite the late arrival of Finnish striker Jari Litmanen and at season's end were relegated, leaving the former GDR without a club in the top flight for the first time since re-unification.

Like other East German teams, they were the victims of a harsh economic reality[tone] as the wealthier, well-established western sides bought up the most talented[tone] eastern footballers as their clubs struggled to survive financially: Rostock's Stefan Beinlich, Oliver Neuville and Victor Agali were just three players sent west in exchange for cash.

DDR-Oberliga and FDGB-Pokal: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

A study published in 2007 by Sportfive reported Hansa's fanbase to be the seventh largest in Germany, involving up to two million supporters.

[vague][14] In 2005, the club successfully sued three streakers who disrupted their 2003 match against Hertha BSC to recoup the €20,000 they were fined by the German Football Association (DFB) for failing to maintain adequate security at their ground.