the club was founded on 17 november 1905 as fc uerdingen 05. in 1953 it merged with 1983 and 1995. in 1985 they won the german cup. the next year they reached the semifinals of the uefa cup winners cup. in 1988 they won the german indoor cup. in 1995 they lost their main sponsor the bayer ag and had financial problems. they were relegated the next years to the regionalliga nord (3rd division). because they got no licence they were relegated to oberliga nordrhein (4th division) at the moment they play in the nrw-liga.