Soon the club developed in one of the leading football clubs in the Netherlands, winning the national title in 1926 and winning the Eastern League five times. When in 1956 the new Eredivisie was established (as the single highest league in the Netherlands), SC Enschede was one of the topteams with starplayers as Abe Lenstra and Helmut Rahn. In 1958 they lost after 180 (!) minutes the first and last final of the Eredivisie ever against DOS Utrecht.