kfc phoenix and vfb mühlburg united to form the karlsruher sport-club mühlburg-phönix e. v., on 16 october 1952 and the new team earned good results throughout the remainder of the decade. in 1955, they beat schalke 04 3–2 to win the dfb-pokal, and repeated the success next year with a 3–1 win over hamburger sv. that season, they also made an appearance in the national final, where they lost 2–4 to borussia dortmund. ksc was oberliga süd champion in 1956, 1958 and 1960, as well as runner-up in the dfb-pkal in 1960, when they lost the final match 2–3 to borussia mönchengladbach. their record earned them admission as one of sixteen founding clubs into germany's new professional football league, the bundesliga, when it began play in 1963.