Founded on 1 January 2003, the club builds upon the license of Randers Freja, a former three-time Danish Cup winning team.

[1] In the first season as a newly created club, Randers ended in fourth place in the Viasat Sport Division with 51 points.

The following year, the team ended in second place with 66 points and was promoted to the country's best league, the SAS Liga.

In the 2005–06 season, however, Randers redeemed itself, securing promotion back to the SAS League with 61 points while also winning the Danish Cup with a 1–0 victory over Esbjerg in the final at Parken Stadium on 11 May 2006.

On 4 November 2008 Randers announced that former Danish international John "Faxe" Jensen would become its new manager from 1 July following the ending of Colin Todd's contract.

He started his time in Randers in great fashion, winning the first league game of the season against local rivals AGF 2–1.

However, the club failed to sustain the winning form when they went to draw against Vejle BK and thereafter lost the following three games to the top three sides OB, Copenhagen and BIF.

The season ended with a 3–3 draw away against Danish champions Copenhagen and a fifth-place finish, it highest league rank in club history.

However, after a catastrophic start to the 2009–10 season with only 2 points earned from 11 league games, Jensen and his assistants were released from their contracts.

However, a historic comeback with 16 games without defeat[10] meant that its topflight status was to be decided on the final day of the season.

When Ove Christensen arrived, he gave the squad an overhaul and nine players were released or sold in the winter break of 2009–10 season.

He also made several signings: Anders Egholm from SønderjyskE, Morten Karlsen from Nordsjælland and Søren Jensen on loan from Odd Grenland.

With Hemmingsen as head coach, Randers ended the 2011–12 season in second place in the Danish 1st division, thereby earning promotion back to the Superliga.

Moreover, the club claimed victory in the Danish Cup after defeating SønderjyskE 4–0 in the final at Ceres Park in Aarhus, with goals from Erik Marxen, Simon Piesinger, and a brace by Mathias Greve.

[12] They finished second in their group after competing against AZ Alkmaar from the Netherlands, CFR Cluj from Romania, and Jablonec from the Czech Republic.

This result secured their progression to the knockout stage, where they faced English powerhouse Leicester City, which included Denmark national team captain Kasper Schmeichel.