the most successful of these ancestral clubs was karlsruher fussball club phönix, formed on 6 june 1894 by dissatisfied members of the gymnastics club karlsruher turngemeinde. they quickly became a strong regional side, playing in the südkreis-liga, and captured the national title in 1909, defeating defending champions viktoria 89 berlin 4–2 in the championship final that season. in 1912, phönix merged with kfc alemannia, established in 1897, to create kfc phönix (phönix alemannia).