SV Stahl Thale, then known as BSG EHW Thale, started playing in the Kreisklasse Quedlinburg in 1946, won the Bezirksklasse West in the 1948–49 season and achieved promotion to the DDR-Oberliga in 1950 after a 3–1 final win against BSG Hydrierwerk Zeitz and reaching third place in the promotion play-off round.

It took another twelve years at the third level of East German football until Thale won the Bezirksliga in 1976 and thereby qualified for the DDR-Liga.

Although the league only had very little sporting value after being expanded to five divisions, Thale finished ninth out of twelve teams in 1977 and were relegated back to the Bezirksliga as second to last in 1978.

While Thale failed to win this play-off in 1985, they were promoted back to the DDR-Liga a year later and managed to stay there until the end of East German football, even finishing the 1987–88 season as runners-up of the southern division.

The club was re-founded after the German reunification in 1990 and was integrated in the southern division of the newly created fourth-tier NOFV-Liga Nordost, finishing the inaugural 1990–91 season in third place.