The Pars' most successful period came in the 1960s, when the team won the Scottish Cup twice, in 1961 and 1968 under Jock Stein and George Farm respectively.
During this period the club played European football regularly, reaching the semi-finals of the 1968–69 European Cup Winners' Cup under Farm.
The club has played at East End Park since its founding in 1885;
After a period of relative success in the 2000s, marked by appearances in three major finals, all of which were lost to Celtic, Dunfermline were promoted to Division One in 2007.
The club then ran into financial problems and applied for membership in April 2013.
Dunfermline Football Club was founded in 1874 when members of Dunfermline Cricket Club decided to form a football section with the aim of maintaining physical fitness during the winter.
A dispute over club membership led to some members splitting from the Dunfermline Cricket Club, resulting in the formation of the Dunfermline Athletic Football Club on 2 June 1885.
The club became the main football club in Dunfermline and they competed for the first twenty-five years of their existence.
The club first entered the Scottish Football League in 1912, where they competed in the Scottish Second Division.
Fifty years after the club's entry into the SFL did not bring much success: the team most often played in the second division, from time to time appearing in the top division.