In 1932, the club took out its first local second-division championship, beating FSV Mainz 05 but it took until 1935 to earn promotion to the first division in the region, the Gauliga Südwest/Mainhessen.

After the end of the Second World War, the club became part of the tier-two Landesliga Hessen, which was then staged in two regional groups.

[4] After a decade in the lower levels of amateur football, the club experienced a revival in 1964, earning promotion back to the Amateurliga.

SC Opel spent its next couple of season's stabilising its finances but declined rapidly on the field, dropping to the lower amateur levels.

In the late 1980s, another attempt was made to rise through the ranks and in 1989, the Bezirksoberliga, the fifth tier, was reached but another financial collapse was only narrowly avoided.