The club's old home ground, Høddvoll Stadion, holds the record attendance of over 12,000 spectators at a match against Vålerenga in 1981.

With Terje Skarsfjord as head coach the team won promotion to the 2. divisjon and reached the quarterfinal of the 1981 Norwegian Football Cup.

[10] Hødd reached the quarter-final of the 1994, where they lost 3–5 after extra time against Lyn,[8] and won the 1994 1. divisjon and was promoted to Tippeligaen with Erik Brakstad as head coach.

[14] Hødd won promotion to the First Division in 2007, and started the 2008 season with a win against Sarpsborg Sparta before the team collected six points in the next 16 matches.

[15] Einar Magne Skede and Lars Arne Nilsen replaced Fladmark, but could not prevent the team from relegation.

The feat was according to pundit Arne Scheie the biggest upset in the history of the Norwegian Cup,[23] as Hødd was a second-tier team who had in fact been fighting against relegation up until the last round in the league.

Despite their troubles in 1. divisjon, Hødd defeated the first-tier teams Haugesund and Brann, qualifying them to their first ever cup final.

Ørjan Nyland was named man of the match,[24] while Fredrik Aursnes became the youngest ever Norwegian Cup winner aged 16 years and 351 days.

[25] Hødd failed to defend the Norwegian Cup title, as the team was eliminated by the defending Tippeligaen winners Molde in the third round of the 2013 Norwegian Football Cup, after a penalty shoot-out where Hødd's former goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland, who had transferred to Molde after the previous season, saved two penalties.

[26] As a result of the Norwegian Cup win, Hødd qualified for the first time in a European competition, Europa League.

For the next decades, the club continued to develop talented players, like the sons of the generation that played in the First Division, Geir Hasund, Børre Meinseth, Egil Ulfstein, Ole Bjørn Sundgot and Arild Sundgot along with Jan Åge Fjørtoft and Karl Oskar Fjørtoft moved elsewhere to play in the top-flight after having had a good development in Hødd.

[27] Source:[28] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.

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