The club plays in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina and has been one of the top teams in the country over the last few years.

Zrinjski Mostar was founded by Croat youth in 1905 in what was then Austria-Hungary and is the oldest football club in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

After World War II, all clubs that had participated in the wartime Croatian league were banned in Yugoslavia, Zrinjski being one of them.

[2] In 1896, several distinguished Herzegovinians from Mostar had an idea to form a youth sports society named Hrvatski sokol (Croatian Falcon).

With the help of the cultural society Hrvoje they formed Đački športski klub (Student Sports Club).

He named some of the players: Rudolf Brozović, Bruno and Edo Novak, Marko Suton, Željko and Ante Merdžo, Abid Pehlivanović, Slavko Jukić, Ivan Bošnjak and Karlo Šmit.

Some of the HROŠK players were: Jure Zelenika, Nikola Paladžić, Miroslav Prpić, Mirko Vlaho, Ante Pavković and Kažimir Zubac.

The players that played in that game were: Vjekoslav Vrančić, Kazimir Vlaho, Živo Bebek, Rudi Janjušić, Husein H. Omerović, Milivoj Smoljan, Pero Golić, Mijo Miličević, Muhamed Omeragić, August Kučinović and Franjo Štimac.

In 1936, Yugoslav authorities did not allow Zrinjski to play at a tournament in Dubrovnik because they had Croatian colours on their jersey.

By the end of the Second World War, the Independent State of Croatia had been defeated by the Yugoslav Partisans resistance movement.

Because of the ongoing war, for the first two years, Zrinjski played only friendly games, mostly in Herzegovina and Croatia, but also in Canada and Germany.

Zrinjski then took four players on loan from Dinamo Zagreb: Luka Modrić, Marko Janjetović, Ivica Džidić and Davor Landeka.

In the summer of 2004, the club signed some of the best players in the league, such as Zoran Rajović, Dušan Kerkez, Velimir Vidić, and Sulejman Smajić.

The team, led by manager Franjo Džidić, won the title easily, with a significant point advantage over runner-up Željezničar.

Zrinjski finished the 2005–06 season in third place, earning a place in the Intertoto Cup, where Zrinjski knocked out the Maltese team Marsaxlokk (3–0 home, 1–1 away) in the first round and lost to Israel team Maccabi Petah Tikva (1–1 away, 1–3 home) in the second round.

However, Partizan was expelled from the competition due to crowd trouble, so Zrinjski progressed to the second round where they lost 2–1 on aggregate to FK Rabotnički of Macedonia.

Zrinjski's participation in European football lasted longer in the 2010–11 season than in others, with the side beating both FC Tobol and Tre Penne before losing to Odense Boldklub in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.

Zrinjski fell further down the league table and once again managed just a seventh-place finish, meaning the side would not play European football next season.

The 2012–13 season was the worst in almost ten years with the club slumping to a ninth-place finish, but managed to qualify for European football through a strong cup performance, where they reached the semi-final.

The title win in the previous season once again sent Zrinjski to the UEFA Champions League second qualifying stage where they drew NK Maribor.

Interestingly enough, in the first two European "campaigns", the club was led by Croatian managers Ante Miše and Hari Vukas respectively.

[9] This result also meant that they became the first ever Bosnian side to win a game in a UEFA club competition group stage.

[10] The team lost their next four games in the group, before ending their European campaign with a home draw against Aston Villa on 14 December 2023.

After Zrinjski's league ban was lifted, the team became one of the important symbols of the Croatian entity in Mostar, and it was mainly supported by Croats.

The first official game between both teams was played in the Premier League of BiH at the Bijeli Brijeg Stadium on 13 August 2000 and was won by Zrinjski 2–0.

The two fan groups which support each team are: Both fanbases still represent a division among ethnic lines, as the Ultras are almost exclusively Croats and the Red Army are mostly Bosniaks.

The official song of Ultras, fans of HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, is "Gori brate", and they support their club from the grandstand - Stajanje.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.