Nicknamed Die Zebras for their traditional striped jerseys, the club was one of the original members of the Bundesliga when it was formed in 1963, although they are now playing in the fourth tier of German football.

[4][5] The club signed young coach Rudi Gutendorf for the first Bundesliga season, replacing the highly regarded Willi Multhaup.

He convinced the board to sign World Cup-winner Helmut Rahn, and developed a tactical system later compared to Dutch total football, whereby every player contributed in both attack and defence.

[4][8] In 1966, they finished with a club record 70 goals scored in the league, including the Bundesliga's biggest ever away win, 9–0 against Tasmania Berlin.

Dietz would achieve this three more times, being named the Bundesliga's best outfield player in 1978, and captaining Germany to victory at UEFA Euro 1980 while still at Duisburg.

[1][3] The club eliminated Lech Poznań, Carl Zeiss Jena, RC Strasbourg and Budapest Honvéd to reach the semi-final, where they were beaten by Borussia Mönchengladbach.

During their time in the regional leagues, Duisburg also won the German amateur championship by beating Bayern Munich II.

[1] In their second season back in the second-tier, Duisburg finished runner up to Schalke 04, returning to the Bundesliga for the first time in nearly a decade.

[9][20] Friedhelm Funkel brought the club back into the Bundesliga in 1996 and achieved three successive top-half finishes, also reaching the 1998 DFB-Pokal final.

[1][23] In December 2005, promotion-winning coach Norbert Meier was infamously sacked after 'one of the most bizarre incidents in Bundesliga history,' where he headbutted 1.

[33] For the first time in the club's history, MSV Duisburg will play in the fourth tier of German professional football, Regionalliga West, starting with the 2024–25 season.

[34] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

[39] Tatort, a popular crime series in Germany, features an episode entitled Zweierlei Blut [de] (lit.

[citation needed] In one scene, Inspector Horst Schimanski is beaten to a pulp and dragged naked into the centre circle of the Wedaustadion.