Before World War II, football played a negligible role in Markkleeberg. After the war, when sports had to be reorganized in East Germany due to the ban on associations, athletes in the city located just outside of Leipzig founded the "Sportgemeinschaft Markkleeberg" in July 1945. The football team initially participated in the Leipzig city league and over the following years rose up to the Saxony State League, which was the third-highest league in East German football until 1952. After the introduction of the East German district system instead of the former East German states, SG Markkleeberg was integrated into the Leipzig District League.
Until 1955, the Sportgemeinschaft was an exception in the East German sports structure, which was usually organized in factory sports clubs (BSG). It was not until February 1955 that the SG was transformed into the BSG Medizin Markkleeberg. Despite the new parent company, the football team had to relegate to the fifth-tier Leipzig District Class at the end of the 1955 season.
BSG Aktivist / TSG Chemie
TSG Chemie logo
Four years later, on June 30, 1959, the BSG Aktivist Markkleeberg was founded with the economically strong coal processing plant Böhlen as the parent company. In 1968, the circle of parent companies was expanded and the BSG was transformed into the TSG Chemie Markkleeberg. After many years in the Leipzig-Land District League, the club achieved promotion to the Leipzig District Class in 1971, which had since been upgraded to the 4th league tier after restructurings in East German football. Here, the TSG encountered their local rival BSG Medizin, with whom they played together in the District Class until 1977. Afterwards, their ways parted. While BSG Medizin relegated to the District Class, the TSG Chemie had managed to gain promotion to the third-tier Leipzig District League. In the District League, the TSG Chemie quickly developed into a top team. After previously three second-place finishes, the team won the district championship in 1982 and thus qualified for the second-tier East German DDR-Liga. There, it became a collection point for former DDR-Oberliga players, so that Chemie Markkleeberg was able to secure their league status until the end of East German football operations. In 1986, the TSG had dropped the "Chemie" addition, as the structure of the parent companies had changed again in the meantime. In the 1983/84 season, the TSG achieved its best league position with a 5th place in the league group C. Coach Karl Bühler could rely on the following regular lineup:
Joachim Niklasch (22 games, 30 years)
Uwe Neumann (15/25)
Gunter Sekora (22/33),
Frank Matychowiak (22/30)
Frank Mulanski (22/30)
Holger Wacker (18/23)
Joachim Kirste (17/31)
Wolfgang Lischke (21/36)
Peter Englisch (8/21)
Wilfried Erler (19/37)
Rainer Srodecki (20/27)
The team had an astonishingly high average age of 29.4 years, but seven players played in 90 percent of all matches. In TSG's most successful year, an average of 1,700 visitors came to the 6,000-seat sports field on the Lauer. This had to make way for open-cast lignite mining in 1989 and was located roughly where the north shore of Lake Cospuden is today.
League statistics 1968–1990
1968–1971: District class Leipzig-Land
1971–1977: District class Leipzig
1977–1982: District League Leipzig
1982–1990: DDR League
1. FC Markkleeberg
Post-reunification period
With the economic changes following the political changes in 1989, the local economy's support for sport
1. FC Markkleeberg logo
collapsed, and the previous company sports clubs had to reorganize themselves in accordance with German association law . The members of the football section of the former TSG Markkleeberg then founded 1. FC Markkleeberg on June 30, 1990. Due to its previous membership in the GDR league, the FC was integrated into the renamed league of the Northeast German Football Association, which had second-class status for one season in the reunified Federal Republic. In 1991, the club, as a member of the NOFV league that had not been promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, was integrated into the newly founded third-class Oberliga Nordost, just like the members of the previously first-class NOFV Oberliga . The Markkleebergers played there until the 1993/94 season. For one season (1991/92) Frank Rost, later a Bundesliga professional (Werder Bremen, FC Schalke 04, Hamburger SV) and four-time national player, was in goal for 1. FC. Within three years, the club had accumulated debts of 700,000 DM and, because the city did not want to take on the liabilities, had to file for bankruptcy in the spring of 1994. With the deletion from the club register, 1. FC Markkleeberg ceased to exist.
After the demise of 1. FC, the first men's team disbanded completely. In order to take over for the youth teams, a new club called "Kickers 94 Markkleeberg" was founded on June 21, 1994. By agreement with the Leipzig Football Association, the Kickers were able to start the 1994/95 season with a men's team in the 1st Leipzig district league, while the eight youth teams that remained were able to continue playing in their previous league. The men's team continued to progress and reached the Leipzig district league (6th league) in 1999. With their coach Frank Baum, 17-times GDR national player, the team managed to get promoted to the Saxony regional league in 2002. With the new coach Dieter Kühn, also a GDR national player (13 appearances), the team successfully maintained its league position.
The Kickers, or rather the predecessor club, have been playing in the Camillo Ugi sports park since 1989. Until 2006 it was called the Central Sports Park, then it was named after the exceptional football player of the early 20th century and has a capacity of 6,000 spectators. The record attendance dates back to April 18, 1993, when 7,000 spectators found their way to the sports park for the match between 1. FC Markkleeberg and FC Sachsen Leipzig (0:0).
