They made their first appearance in the country's final rounds in 1935 and sent representatives to the national side the next year. They won their first national championship in 1938 in what was one of the biggest upsets in German football history when they beat Schalke 04, the game's most dominant side of the era. The two sides played to a 3:3 draw before Hannover prevailed 4:3 in a tension filled re-match. In 1942, the team moved to the newly formed Gauliga Südhannover-Braunschweig.
It was dissolved after second world war by the allied authorities but reconstituted later. The club resumed league play in 1947 in the first division Oberliga Nord, was relegated, but quickly returned to the top-flight in 1949. Hannover 96's next appearance in a national final would not come until 1954 when they soundly defeated 1. FC Kaiserslautern 5:1. The beaten side included five of the same players who would go on later that year to win Germany's first World Cup in a surprise victory known as the Miracle of Bern.
The club's next honours were German amateur championships in 1960 and 1964. In 1963, the Bundesliga, Germany's new professional football league, began play with sixteen of the nation's top teams. Hannover played in the Regionalliga Nord (II) that season, but earned promotion to the senior circuit in the following year. They played at the upper level for a decade, until finally relegated to 2.Bundesliga Nord for the 1974-75 season. They bounced right back, but were again sent down, this time to spend seventeen of the next twenty years in the second tier.
The club suffered from money problems in the late 70's and again in the early 90's. Then, in 1992, Hannover put together an impressive run that would lead them to the capture of their first German Cup (DFB-Pokal) and help to set their finances right. That run included victories over Bundesliga sides Borussia Dortmund, VfL Bochum, Karlsruher SC, Werder Bremen, and Borussia Moenchengladbach, as they became the first lower division side to win the competition. Hero of the cupwinners was goalkeeper Jörg Sievers who saved two penalties in the penalty shooting of the semi-final and scored the last one himself. In the final he saved two again.
Hannover team's low point came with demotion to Regionalliga Nord (III) for two years in 1996-98: the fact that the fall from the second league came during their anniversary year unfortunately made them a laughing stock among fans of rival teams for years to come. Hannover made an amazing fresh start with a new team of hungry youngsters - many of them have later reached the national team (Gerald Asamoah, Sebastian Kehl, Fabian Ernst) or at least become Bundesliga stars, and 96 returned to tier II play in 1998, and to the Bundesliga in 2002 on the strength of a record setting 75 point season.
Since their promotion the club has consolidated in the top flight, achieving a string of mid table finishes under the command of several managers. Current coach Dieter Hecking was brought in just weeks into the 2006/07 season after a disastrous start under Peter Neururer, in which the club lost the first 3 matches by a combined 11 goals. The club stabilised after this and came close to a European spot.
After just falling short of UEFA Cup entry in the previous campaign, the club sought to boost their firepower, signing Mike Hanke from VfL Wolfsburg, Benjamin Lauth from Hamburg SV and Christian Schulz from Werder Bremen. They showed omens for a strong season with impressive pre-season wins over Rangers and Real Madrid, and a safe passage through to the 2nd round of the DFB Cup, but their opening six games only brought inconsistent results. However, the team put together a three match winning run after this, capped with a 2-0 win at champions VfB Stuttgart to surge into the top 6.