The club was founded on 20 April 1920 in Bismarkhuta (German Bismarckhütte, historically Hajduki), one of the many heavily industrialised municipalities in the eastern part of Upper Silesia, a disputed province between Poland and Germany.

The main incentive was an appeal of the Polish Plebiscite Committee a few months earlier that led to creation of around one hundred sport associations.

[6] In autumn of 1920 Ruch won the promotion to the nascent Silesian Klasa A (see also: Lower Level Football Leagues in Interwar Poland).

In 1924 the club finished second in the regional top league, behind AKS Królewska Huta, before 1924 considered German and known as Verein für Rasenspiele Königshütte, the first team Ruch had developed a local rivalry with.

In 1933 Ruch won its first Championship as the first side from Silesia, with all the players who were born not further as a few kilometers from the na Kalinie pitch.

In the winter of 1933 the most noteworthy players such as Edmund Giemsa, Teodor Peterek and Gerard Wodarz were joined by legendary Ernst Wilimowski, bought from 1.

During the World War II German occupation of Poland in 1939, the club was officially discontinued but unofficially was simply renamed Bismarckhütter SV 99 and joined the Gauliga Oberschlesien in 1941.

In 1948, under communist pressure (Stalinisation), the club was renamed Unia Chorzów, in 1955 it became Unia-Ruch, and finally in 1956 returned to the name Ruch.

In 1951 the club won the reactivated Polish Cup edition and were rewarded with the title of the National Champions (even though they were only sixth in the league).

The next two years the club also won the title, first in 1952 after final against Polonia Bytom, another local bitter rival, and in 1953 after finishing the league on the top position.

The years 1957-1966 are considered a lost decade, completely overshadowed by the successes of the new biggest regional rival, Górnik Zabrze, even though the club won the championships in 1960.

A record of its kind in the national football history as the team consisted of only 14 players, 11 of whom originated in the town of Chorzów.

These successes were followed by a bad financial plight and mediocre results until 1978–79, when the club won its 13th Championship title.

Especially shifty were the circumstances of the relegation decider, against Lechia Gdańsk, when Ruch's goalkeeper Janusz Jojko scored an infamous and bizarre own goal and the club lost the game 1–2.

In the following season, Ruch was in danger of being demoted to the third tier for the first time in history, however the club won the relegation play-offs against Stal Rzeszów (1–1, 2–0).

The best season in the recent history was 2011–12, when Ruch was vice-champion (only 1 point behind the champions, Śląsk Wrocław) and reached the final of the national cup, which they lost 0–3 to Legia Warsaw.

In 2017, it was decided that for the first time in the history of Polish football, in accordance with the Restructuring Law, SA will initiate an accelerated arrangement procedure aimed at agreeing the terms of debt repayment with creditors.

After a disastrous season in which the Blues suffered heavy defeats, including 0–6 in a home match against Pogoń Siedlce on the club's 98th anniversary, a 6–1 away defeat against Miedź Legnica and a 6–0 away loss to Wigry Suwałki, the club finished last in the league, being 11 points off the play-off place, which resulted in the first relegation to the third level in Ruch's history.

[15] Ruch finished the 2022–23 season as runners-up, after defeating GKS Tychy 1–0 on the last matchday, with the sole goal scored again by Daniel Szczepan.

Except for the emblem of Unia Chorzów (around 1949-1955), the shield of the crest has always been, more or less precisely, the blue Reuleaux triangle with the club's full name on the rim.

In the late 1980s, the monogram was decorated with thin lines, emphasizing the activity, militancy and mobility of the signet itself, and thereby reflecting the name of the club in a slightly expressive way (Ruch means Movement in English).

In September 2007, it was decided to make a facelift of the logo, which was to be a sign of the continuous evolution of the brand of Ruch Chorzów.

In 2021, after the jubilee year, starting its second century, the club decided to return to the most acceptable version of the crest among fans.

In fan stores there are many products with Upper Silesian symbols,[25] on social media the club tags all posts with the hashtag #MySomRuch (en.

A specific subculture of szalikowcy (a name derived from szalik - scarf) developed in the 1970s, as elsewhere in the country, but regionally only after having first appeared among fans of Polonia Bytom.