The club became founding members of the West Sussex Football League in 1896, joining the Junior Division.

As well as finishing as Division One champions, the club also reached the 1st Round of the FA Cup where they were beaten 4–0 by Northampton Town in front of a crowd of 4,000 at The Sportsfield.

The club responded by investing heavily in the playing squad for 2003–04 and began the season as hot favourites to bounce back at the first attempt.

That proved to be the case and the Marigolds were always struggling throughout 2006–07, under new manager Trevor Waller, with a largely young and inexperienced squad.

[4][5] The 2021–22 season saw Littlehampton win the league and gain promotion to the Isthmian League for the first time in their history,[6] in addition to reaching three cup finals, where they won the Peter Bentley Southern Combination Challenge Cup,[7] lost 3–0 in the 2022 FA Vase Final to Newport Pagnell Town at Wembley Stadium,[8] and finally won the Sussex RUR Cup.

This success saw Littlehampton achieve a historic treble,[9] in addition to becoming the 'first team in Sussex to reach an FA Vase final'.

The club passed plans for a modernised main stand in 2023, with construction taking place in May 2024 and completing in June 2024 after a successful crowd fund.