Football, rugby, and cricket came to continental Europe in the late 19th century, and these "English games" became immediately popular in many countries.

The club went on to play as Berliner FC Viktoria 89 in the Gauliga Berlin-Brandenburg, one of sixteen premier level divisions formed in the re-organization of German football under the Third Reich in 1933.

The club was re-established in late 1945 as SG Tempelhof and re-claimed their pre-war identity as BFC Viktoria 89 Berlin on 12 July 1947.

They played from the late 1940s, through the 1950s, and into the early 1960s in the Oberliga Berlin, affiliated with football in the western half of the now divided country.

When the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional league, was formed in 1963, only a single place was held open among the sixteen teams selected to the new circuit for a side from Berlin.

While the city's teams were not as competitive as others in the country, it was felt to be an important gesture in the Cold War era to represent the divided capital in the newly established league: the selection went to Hertha BSC.

In 2007 (113 years later) the match was finally played after enthusiastic support from the President of the German Football Federation (DFB), Theo Zwanziger.