The team produced many European top-class players among whom are the UEFA Champions League winning strikers Dejan Savićević and Predrag Mijatović.

Historically, the first ever team of RSK Zora / RSK Budućnost, in period between 1925 and 1928, played Musaja Čelebičić, Vaso Vukadinović, Bećo Abdomerović, Vaso Čarapić, Vlado Kirsanov, Đorđe Kešeljević, Vaso Kulić, Blažo Prelević, Duljo Džaferadžović, Blažo Šutulović, Buto Krkanović, Luka Bulatović, Tahir Čelebić, Ilija Ivanović, Milo Pajović, Milovan Radulović, Vuko Vuksanović, Dušan Krcunović, Đorđije Vučeljić, Branko Rajković, Smail Bibezić, Šećir Kapadžić and Arso Marković.

Their debut in Montenegrin football championship occurred in season 1927 (under the name Zora), when they were eliminated at the First stage of competition against GSK Balšić (0–3).

[4] Next season, Budućnost made their first win in official competitions, defeating GSK Balšić (2–1), but were eliminated in Championship semifinals against Lovćen (2–3).

[5] In the next two years, Budućnost was eliminated in the early stages of Montenegrin Championship, and in spring 1931, for the second time in history, played in the semifinals.

In autumn 1931, Budućnost for the first time played in the finals of the Montenegrin football championship, but lost against SK Crnogorac Cetinje (1–2).

During the next years, the club, under the temporary name RSK Crna Gora, only played a few friendly, illegal games, against Lovćen and FK Velež from Mostar.

Outside of Podgorica City Stadium (Western stand), there is a memorial tablet commemorating all FK Budućnost players who died or participated in the war.

The historical first game in First Yugoslav League, FK Budućnost played on 25 August 1946 against Dinamo Zagreb (2–2),[9] in front of 5,000 spectators in Podgorica, which was equal with town population of that time.

In their first Cup final, Budućnost played with following team: Hajduković, Folić, Gardašević, Pavlović, Savković, Kovačević, Šaković, Todorović, Šorban, Ćerić, Franović (coach: Božidar Dedović).

Two appearances in the Yugoslav Cup finals (1965, 1977) are considered as the greatest achievements of FK Budućnost in the era of SFR Yugoslavia.

[12] After the First League season 1981–82, all-time top-striker of FK Budućnost Mojaš Radonjić signed to their biggest rival Sutjeska.

So, in 1983 for FK Budućnost debuted Dejan Savićević, who would later win two UEFA Champions League titles,[13] with one scored goal in the final.

Another great talent of FK Budućnost, Predrag Mijatović, debuted in 1987 and would later win and score a goal in one UEFA Champions League final.

Their best finish at that time occurred in season 1986–87—the team from Podgorica was seventh-placed, equalised on table with GNK Dinamo Zagreb, and were only one point less than fourth-placed Rijeka.

As Podgorica City Stadium didn't meet new UEFA rules, they played home games against Nea Salamis (1–1) and OFI Crete (3–4) in Belgrade.

In the first leg of 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup, they eliminated Valletta (2–2, 5–0) and in the next stage their opponent were Spanish giants Deportivo La Coruña.

Podgorica side was close to the third qualifying round of 2012–13 UEFA Champions League, but they didn't succeed, despite their away win against Śląsk Wrocław (0–2; 1–0).

A game with lot of violence at Podgorica City Stadium was solved in the last minute, as Mitar Peković scored a goal for a trophy.

That was a hard struggle with FK Zeta and OFK Titograd and Budućnost finished at the first position thanks to a better results against their direct opponents.

During the summer, they made significant result in 2020–21 UEFA Europa League, after the victory against FC Astana away (1–0), but failed to qualify to playoffs, after the defeat against FK Sarajevo (1–2).

FK Budućnost debuted in European competitions in 1981, when they played in Intertoto Cup, finishing as a first place team in the group.

After Montenegrin independence, Budućnost became a regular participant in UEFA competitions, and played three seasons in the Champions League qualifiers.

FK Budućnost played two seasons in the Balkans Cup, a regional competition for clubs from Yugoslavia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey.

Since its foundation years, Varvari gained a reputation of a violent group, and in the recent history they caused some of the biggest accidents that occurred at football matches.

At First League 2004–05 game Budućnost – Partizan Belgrade, flares, blocks, construction materials and similar objects were thrown from the North stand to the pitch and the match was abandoned for 15 minutes.

As Budućnost was officially workers' club and Balšić the team of that-time regime, Podgorica derby had big social dimension.

During the period 1946–2006, especially popular were games of FK Budućnost against the bigfour of Yugoslav football (Crvena zvezda, Dinamo Zagreb, Hajduk Split and Partizan).

Games against Hajduk and Dinamo, FK Budućnost played in Yugoslav First League until the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia, and against Crvena zvezda and Partizan until Montenegrin independence.

[29] Since 2008, FK Budućnost made their own training center in Camp FSCG,[30] located on Ćemovsko polje, a plain on the Podgorica outskirts between the settlements Stari Aerodrom and Konik.