Founded in 1891 and nicknamed "the Robins", they are currently members of the National League, the fifth tier of English football, and play at Moss Lane.

[3] They soon merged with another local team, Grapplers, to form Broadheath Football Club,[3] and were founder members of the Manchester League in 1893.

[4] After missing out the 1945–46 season, they rejoined the Cheshire County League in 1946, achieving little success until the 1960s, when Altrincham director Noel White hired Freddie Pye as manager.

A key turning point in the history of the club is often cited as the signing of Jackie Swindells in 1965, who in his first full season (1965–66) scored 82 goals.

[8] The next two seasons saw the club finish in mid-table, together with another FA Trophy final appearance in 1981–82, this time losing 1–0 to Enfield.

[10][11] The club then returned to mid-table with occasional successful seasons, finishing third in 1990–91 (by which time the league had become the Football Conference) and fourth in 1994–95.

[14] After mid-table finishes in 2008–09 and 2009–10 and Ricky Ponting becoming a shareholder of the club in 2009,[15] Altrincham were relegated to the Conference North at the end of the 2010–11 season.

However, after finishing fourth the following season, they beat Hednesford Town 4–3 on aggregate in the semi-finals and then defeated Guiseley 2–1 in the final to earn promotion back to the Conference National.

After defeating Chester 3–2 and York City 2–0, the club beat Boston United 1–0 in the final, earning promotion to the National League.

[17] They reached the third round of the FA Cup in four consecutive seasons between 1978–79 and 1981–82,[4] holding a better record in the competition than any club playing in the Third or Fourth divisions during this period.