The history of Vålerenga Fotball goes back to Fotballpartiet Spark, which was founded in 1898 by pastor Hans Møller Gasmann.

[2] A successor to this football club, Idrettslaget Spring, was founded on 29 July 1913 by a group of teenage factory workers.

Rooted in the neighborhood of Vålerenga on the east end of Oslo, the club would recruit players and supporters from the many workers in the area, in a society then characterized for its low mobility between social strata.

[2] Vålerengens Idrettsforening had mixed success in its first years, but fortunes improved as the 1920s came around and the club secured promotion to the Oslo Championships in 1921.

The league was won in dramatic fashion, with arch-rivals Lyn giving Vålerengen a fight for the title until the final matches of the season.

Led by head coach Leif Eriksen, the team won the First Division title for the second time in 1981 with a style of play characterized by intensity and discipline.

Vålerenga was close to further relegation in the 1992 season, but managed to remain in the second highest division thanks to a last round 3–0 win against Eik-Tønsberg IF.

The result was a 0–0 draw in Sandefjord and a 5–3 victory in Oslo and so Vålerenga retained the position in the top league and avoided relegation.

Vålerenga rebounded nicely in the 2004 season and proved a serious challenge to the dominant Rosenborg team in the bid for the league's gold medal.

Eventually Fredrikstad, who faced relegation if they lost, beat Start 3–1 while at the same time Vålerenga managed a 2–2 draw against Odd Grenland.

Late July brought a string of bad results, including embarrassing losses to main rival FK Lyn, and the exit from the UEFA Champions League, after losing 5–3 on aggregate to Czech club Mladá Boleslav in the 2nd qualifying round.

Vålerenga had aimed to qualify for the tournament after missing out the previous year by being defeated by Belgian side Club Brugge on a penalty shoot-out.

In October 2006, Petter Myhre was hired on a permanent basis, but he would resign in July 2007, following a string of bad results.

Heavy investment from owners and investors saw the signing of several high-profile players, most notably Lars Iver Strand and Kristoffer Hæstad.

2010 saw a revitalized Vålerenga, led by a trio of effective forwards, Mohammed Abdellaoue, Bengt Sæternes and Luton Shelton.

In 2017, Vålerenga opened their own home ground at Valle Hovin in Eastern Oslo, called Intility Arena.

The very first match in the ground saw the Vålerenga women's team beat Kolbotn Fotball 2–0 on 9 September 2017, with Stephanie Verdoia being the first ever goalscorer on the Arena.

The ground was first called Vålerenga kultur- og idrettspark, before the club agreed a contract with the IT company Intility to rename the stadium.

[6] Following a press statement made on 15 May 2008, Vålerenga announced that they would be moving home to Valle Hovin after purchasing the area of the proposed stadium for the symbolic sum of 1 Norwegian Krone.

[8] Before moving into Intility Arena, the Ullevaal Stadion was the home ground, a stadium owned jointly by the Football Association of Norway and Vital Eiendom.

Poor conditions and maintenance of Bislett forced Vålerenga to move to Ullevaal and a groundshare with FK Lyn.

After the second place in 2004 and the league title in 2005 as well as business man John Fredriksen's deletion of the club's debt in 2003, the talks of building a ground for Vålerenga resurfaced.

[11] Despite this, as recently as 2019, isolated individuals within the club's support have engaged in disruptive and dangerous activities during live matches.

(numbers as of 3 September 2007) Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply.