FC Energie Cottbus is a German football club based in Cottbus, Brandenburg. It was founded in 1963 as SC Cottbus in what was East Germany. After the reunification of Germany, Energie played six seasons in the third tier of the German football league system before floating between the 2. Bundesliga and Bundesliga for 17 years between 1997 and 2014. From 2014 to 2016, the club played in the third tier, 3. Liga, and were then relegated to the Regionalliga Nordost. In 2018, they were promoted back into the 3. Liga, only to be relegated again the next season.

Cottbus or Chóśebuz is a university city and the second-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after the state capital of Potsdam. With around 98,000 inhabitants, it is the most populous city in Lusatia. Cottbus lies in the Sorbian settlement area of Lower Lusatia, and is the second-largest city on the River Spree after Berlin, from which it is situated around 125 km (78 mi) upstream. The city is located on the shores of Cottbus Eastern Lake, which will be Germany's largest artificial lake by surface area when flooding is completed.