The club was established in 1921 as Fußball-Club Herzlake and in 1927 was renamed Deutsche Jugendkraft Grün-Weiß Hertzlake as part of the DJK-Sportverband, a nationwide sports organization sponsored by the Catholic Church.

With the rise to power of the Nazis, faith-based and left-leaning worker's sports organizations were disbanded as politically unpalatable to the regime and the Herzlake club disappeared in 1934.

A successful promotion round playoff in 1988 advanced VfL to the Oberliga Nord (III) where they were an unremarkable lower-tier side through their first four seasons of play.

The team remained competitive through the mid-90s in what was now the Regionalliga Nord (III), before being renamed VfL Hasetal Herzlake in 1997.

The poor financial condition of the club drove them all the way down to the Kreisliga Emsland (VIII) and they resumed the name VfL Herzlake.