SC Freiburg emerged in its present form from a series of mergers. The oldest predecessor clubs were Freiburger FV 04, founded in March 1904, and FC Schwalbe Freiburg, founded two months later. On March 3, 1912, FV 04, by then renamed SV 04, and FC Schwalbe, by then renamed first FC Mars and then FC Union, merged for the first time to form SC Freiburg.\n\nOn December 13, 1919 the club joined Freiburger Turnerschaft von 1844. Because of the dispute between gymnastics and sports associations, the footballers left again in 1924 and once more formed SC Freiburg.
During the Nazi reorganisation of organised sport, the two clubs were merged again. After the Second World War the first successor club of the gymnastics association was VfL Freiburg, which took back the old name in 1949. In 1952 the footballers again split from the parent club and formed the present-day SC Freiburg.