The club was founded on 2 June 1919 and has a large array of currently active or temporarily disbanded sports departments which includes football, futsal, basketball, aikido, volleyball, swimming, esports and billiards.

The club uses a stadium in Coimbra, the Campo da Arregaça, which has 1,500 seats and belongs to the municipality.

Its founders were a group of young people linked to commerce and industry, including shop and workshop owners and employees, bricklayers, locksmiths, tinsmiths, shoemakers, etc., who set up their own "foot-ball" club in the heart of the city's downtown.

[13] The club is headquartered in this building in Santo António dos Olivais, located nearby the Coimbra City Stadium.

[5] Bruno Aleixo, a fictional character, popular in Portugal and Brazil, created by the comedy group GANA is a supporter of União de Coimbra.