The first mentioning of a Mariupol team could be traced to 1936 when it lost to Dynamo Kryvyi Rih 0:5 as part of the 1936 Soviet Cup.

Missing the 1974 season, the club returned to republican competitions in 1975 as Lokomotyv, sponsored now by "Azovmash" which specializes in production of railroad cars as well as mining and metallurgical heavy equipment.

Soon before the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the club already playing as Novator was relegated in 1989 to Ukrainian amateur competitions.

FC Metalurh Mariupol changed its name to Illichivets during the winter break of the 2002–2003 season when the club was acquired by the Illich Steel and Iron Works.

Due to the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the club was forced to play its home games in Dnipropetrovsk during the 2014-15 season.

In 2017 as part of the ongoing decommunization process of Ukraine, the club changed its name of Illichivets to simply FC Mariupol, officially adopting on 14 June 2017[9] for the 2017–18 Ukrainian Premier League season.