It was formed on 15 February 1899 as the football department of gymnastics club ATV Leipzig-Lindenau and became independent as Spielvereinigung Leipzig in 1903.

The club enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1910s and 1920s while competing in the regional central German league (Verbandes Mitteldeutscher Ballspiel-Vereine) where they won the title in 1912, 1914, 1922, and 1924.

Organizations throughout the country, including sports and football clubs, were disbanded after the conflict as part of the process of denazification.

The club was active in lower-tier competition in Soviet-occupied East Germany under several different names; ZSG Industrie Hafen-Leipzig (1949), SG Hafen Leipzig-Lindenau (1950), BSG Stahl Hafen Leipzig (1951), and later, as BSG Fortschritt West Leipzig, but was never able to win its way to higher-level competition.

In 1990, following German reunification, Fortschritt merged with BSG Motor Lindenau and reclaimed its historical identity as SpVgg Leipzig.