Hallescher FC

Halle sits on the Saale, a city whose industrial identity was tied to chemicals, and its football club took its name from that trade. "Chemie" is what supporters call it, a nickname that outlasted the East German sports system that produced it.

The club's line runs through several names. The league titles of 1949 and 1952 were won as ZSG Union Halle and BSG Turbine Halle, and the cup wins of 1956 and 1962 came under Turbine and SC Chemie Halle. The current club dates from 26 January 1966, when the football department left SC Chemie Halle and became Hallescher FC Chemie. Bernd Bransch, who won 72 caps for East Germany, is the player most closely tied to that era.

The modern club is largely a story of climbing back. It won the NOFV-Oberliga Süd in 2008, then the Regionalliga Nord in 2012. Between those two titles it kept winning the Saxony-Anhalt Cup, taking it in 2010, 2011 and 2012. It has now won that regional cup 13 times, most recently in 2026, and the cup wins have repeatedly given the club a route into the national cup.

Two derbies carry the history. The Saale-Derby against FC Carl Zeiss Jena is a contest between neighbouring towns, and the Sachsen-Anhalt-Derby against 1. FC Magdeburg is a contest between neighbouring towns.

Home is the Leuna-Chemie-Stadion, which opened in September 2011 on the site of the old Kurt-Wabbel-Stadion. It holds 15,057 and is all seats.