Unlike what happened in most of the Iberian Peninsula, football did not reach the city of A Coruña through the English, instead, it was introduced by José María Ábalo, a youngster who had returned to his hometown after studying in England.

In December 1906, members of Sala Calvet gymnasium formed Deportivo de La Coruña, naming Luis Cornide as the first president.

The team played friendly matches regularly and competed in local leagues, but failed to achieve success in the Copa del Rey in its early years.

A good run for Spain increased the popularity of football, and as a result, many teams gained professional status, and a league competition was established and scheduled for the 1928–29 season.

This decade saw Depor's entrance to the top flight, so the club decided to build a new ground, Riazor, which remains their home today.

The next season would see their first major achievement in the league; Dépor finished as runners-up, just one point behind Atlético Madrid under the management of Argentinian Alejandro Scopelli, who brought to the club a group of South American players such as Julio Corcuera, Oswaldo García, Rafael Franco and Dagoberto Moll, a group that made the team more competitive and able to remain top flight status for nine consecutive seasons until 1957.

Dépor had one of the best youth systems at the time in Spain, as youngsters including Amancio Amaro, Severino Reija, José Luis Veloso and Jaime Blanco began their careers at the Riazor, in the future to become regular fixtures on the Spanish national team.

Notably, Dépor were relegated and promoted along with arch-rivals Celta de Vigo, who played during the 1980–81 season the most attended games ever in Spain's third tier.

Deportivo had a debt estimated at 600 million pesetas, had been out of the top flight for 15 years and lacked established structures at economic and sporting level.

The 1991–92 season, the team's first back in the top flight, saw Dépor struggle, and they were forced to take part in the relegation play-off, beating Real Betis in a two-legged round.

In 1992, Arsenio Iglesias began his fourth spell as Dépor manager; experienced players were also added to the team during that period, including López Rekarte, Paco Liaño, Claudio Barragán, José Luis Ribera, Adolfo Aldana and Donato, along with promising youngsters such as local player Fran and Brazilians Bebeto and Mauro Silva.

In 1993–94, Dépor had another fantastic season, leading the table for the majority of the year and coming to the last matchday in first to face mid-table Valencia, knowing a win would ensure the first league title in club history.

Regular penalty-taker Donato had been substituted, so Serbian defender Miroslav Đukić took it, but Valencia keeper González caught the ball; Deportivo saw their possible league title denied.

After the frustration passed, the fans nonetheless recognised the impressive season the club had: Paco Liaño earned his second Zamora Trophy after conceding just 18 goals in 38 games, and Dépor made its debut in European competitions with the UEFA Cup, beating Aalborg and Aston Villa but losing to Eintracht Frankfurt in the round of 16.

The 1994–95 season began with manager Arsenio Iglesias stating he would leave the club after the end of the year, though Dépor made another great campaign finishing again as runners-up, this time to Real Madrid.

In that season's UEFA Cup, Deportivo were beaten again in the round of 16 by a German club, this time by Borussia Dortmund 3–2 on aggregate.

On 24 June 1995, at the Santiago Bernabéu, the final was levelled at 1–1 when referee García-Aranda suspended the game in the 80th minute due to heavy rain and a hailstorm.

Two minutes after the match resumed, Alfredo Santaelena scored a header, which proved to be the winning goal that handed Depor their first major title (notwithstanding the 1912 Concurso España).

In 1999–2000, Deportivo, managed by Irureta and with players like Noureddine Naybet, Diego Tristán, Djalminha, Fran, Roy Makaay and Mauro Silva, finally won their first La Liga title, five points ahead of Barcelona and Valencia.

[citation needed] In the 2001–02 season, Depor finished league runner-up to Valencia and won the Copa del Rey for a second time with a 2–1 win against Real Madrid on 6 March 2002.

[13] Deportivo's opponents were expected to win the final comfortably as they were nicknamed the Galácticos and were among the strongest teams in Europe at the time.

[14] Depor's best Champions League campaign was in the 2003–04 season, where they lost to eventual winners Porto by a narrow 1–0 aggregate scoreline in the semi-finals.

[20] The 2007–08 season was a slight improvement, with the club finishing in 9th under new manager Miguel Ángel Lotina, but were eliminated in the Copa del Rey by Espanyol at the first hurdle.

In July 2015, however, it was suspected that in the final round of matches for that season, Levante and Real Zaragoza were involved in a match-fixing scandal which ensured that the latter won 2–1 at the Estadi Ciutat de València and remained in the division at the expense of Deportivo, who lost 2–0 at home to Valencia.

[21] In the 2011–12 season, Deportivo made an immediate return to the top flight, winning the title with a Segunda Division record of 91 points.

A 2014–15 campaign back in the top division with a disjointed squad featured some poor performances on the pitch under new manager Víctor Fernández, including a 8–2 defeat at home to Real Madrid.

[22] This was especially disappointing considering the 18-match unbeaten home run between 1992–93 and 2010–11 at the Riazor against Real Madrid, a feat which no other team has managed to achieve in the history of Spanish football.

With the addition of new players Alejandro Arribas, Fernando Navarro, Pedro Mosquera and Fayçal Fajr, Deportivo began the season with a 0–0 draw against Real Sociedad.

After spending four seasons in the third tier, Deportivo finally won promotion back to the second division and thus professional football by finishing in first place in Group 1 of the 2023–24 Primera Federación.

According to a 2007 survey by the Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, Deportivo was the ninth team in Spain in terms of number of fans, with a total of 2.2%.