Futebol Clube de Famalicão was founded on 21 August 1931 by six friends in Vila Nova de Famalicão, a city in northern Portugal's Minho region. The club played its first competitive match in 1932, hosting FC Porto for the opening of its original ground, Campo da Berberia. In those early years the team wore green and white, later switching to blue and white — the colours they carry today.
Famalicão's first notable chapter came in 1945–46, when the side reached the semi-finals of the Taça de Portugal under Hungarian coach Janos Szabo, a feat they would not match again until a 1–0 victory over F.C. Paços de Ferreira brought them back to the last four in January 2020. Their top-flight history spans seven Primeira Liga seasons in total, with appearances in 1946–47, 1978–79, and a sustained four-season run from 1990 to 1994 that represents the club's most successful era to date.
The 2000s brought a sharp decline, with Famalicão dropping as far as the fifth-tier Braga district league by 2008–09. A steady recovery followed, and in 2015 the club returned to the professional pyramid. A transformative moment came before the 2018–19 season, when Quantum Pacific Group — the investment vehicle of Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer, who also holds a significant stake in Atlético de Madrid — acquired a majority share. Backed by that investment, Famalicão won promotion to the Primeira Liga in April 2019, ending a 25-year absence, and finished fifth in their first season back.
The club has played at Estádio Municipal de Famalicão since 1952, a compact ground that reflects the tight-knit community identity at the heart of this northern Portuguese club.