A sports club (German: Sportclub) (SC) was a specially promoted sports club for elite sport in the East German sports system.
The sports clubs emerged in East Germany after 1954. They were originally founded by the so-called sports associations (German: Sportvereinigung) (SV), which served as umbrella organizations for the sports communities (German: Sportgemeinschaft) (SG) or enterprise sports communities (German: Betriebssportgemeinschaft) (BSG) of the different trade union areas in East Germany.
The East German sports management then tightened up the system in the early 1960s and instead set up regional district sports clubs. The sports clubs existed in this form until the end of 1990, when they were either dissolved or given new legal statuses based on the West German model.
The system of sports clubs came to prove itself in view of the very large number of medals that athletes in East Germany won in the Olympic games and in European and World Championships.