Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at the 9,076 seat Estádio Capital do Móvel, a municipal stadium where the team has been based since 1973.

They played for two decades without any official recognition until they entered the lower divisions in 1950, under the name Futebol Clube Vasco da Gama.

[5] Paços entered the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round, where they defeated Zimbru Chișinău of Moldova before being eliminated by Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv of Israel in the third.

The club were managed that season by Paulo Fonseca, who left at the end to join Porto, and was replaced by Costinha, who lost the Champions League playoff to Russians Zenit Saint Petersburg.

[8] Paços' 13-year spell in the Primeira Liga ended in 2018, though they immediately returned as champions of the 2018–19 LigaPro under promotion specialist Vítor Oliveira.

[9] His successor Pepa took them to the UEFA Europa Conference League with a fifth-place finish in 2020–21, then left for Vitória de Guimarães.

[11] A four-year spell in the top flight ended with relegation in 2022–23, a season in which manager César Peixoto was sacked and then hired again in under three months, either side of José Mota's winless return to the club.