Telstar was founded on 17 July 1963 in Velsen-Zuid, North Holland, through the merger of the professional sections of two local rivals, IJ.V.V. Stormvogels and VSV. The new club took its name from Telstar 1, the communications satellite launched earlier that year — a nod that has shaped the club's identity ever since. Both founding clubs continued as amateur sides, while the newly formed professional outfit hit the ground running, winning promotion to the Eredivisie in their very first season, 1963–64.
Telstar spent 14 consecutive years in the Eredivisie, with their strongest period coming in the mid-1970s, when they recorded top-ten finishes in three successive seasons. Relegation to the Eerste Divisie followed at the end of the 1977–78 campaign, and the club would spend the better part of five decades outside the top flight. Notable along the way was a 1991–92 KNVB Cup run that reached the semi-finals, and a vibrant 2017–18 season under head coach Mike Snoei that brought a sixth-place league finish and a KNVB Cup quarter-final. In the 2024–25 promotion play-offs, Telstar defeated ADO Den Haag, Den Bosch, and finally Willem II — the last with a decisive second-leg victory — to return to the Eredivisie for the first time since 1978.
Playing in an all-white strip that earned them the nickname Witte Leeuwen (White Lions), Telstar are deeply rooted in the industrial North Holland coastal community around Velsen-Zuid. Their compact 5,338-seat home ground, Sportpark Schoonenberg — known commercially as the BUKO Stadion — and the tradition of taking the field to the Tornados' instrumental hit "Telstar" give match days a distinctive, enduring character.