Deportes Quindío was founded on 8 January 1951, after a group of high-ranking personalities from the city of Armenia, at that time still part of the
Caldas Department, hired the players of Argentine team
Rosario Wanders, which by the end of 1950 was on a tour of Colombia. After several talks with manager
Próspero Fabrini and
Moisés Emilio Reuben, who were in charge of the Argentine squad, an agreement was reached and the entire team stayed at Armenia. Its first official match was played against
Universidad Nacional at the
Estadio Alfonso López Pumarejo in
Bogotá, which they won 1–0, with a goal by
Alfredo L'Spina, whilst its first home match was played on 19 March 1951 against
Deportes Caldas at Estadio San José, winning 3–1 with a brace by
Roberto Urruti and a goal by
Mario Garelli. In 1953, the club changed its name to
Atlético Quindío per decision made by the then Mayor of Armenia, and finished as runner-up in
that year's league tournament, behind
Millonarios. It followed up with another runner-up finish in
1954, a third place in
the following season, and their first title in
1956 when they finished three points ahead of Millonarios. The team featured players such as Julio César Asciolo, Manuel Dante Pais, José Francisco Lombardo, Nelson "El Viejito" Vargas, Ricardo "El Pibe" Díaz, Álvaro Lahidalga; Alejandro Carrillo, Jaime "El Manco" Gutiérrez, Francisco Solano Patiño, Alejandrino Génes and Roberto "Benitín" Urruti, and also had the tournament's top scorer in
Jaime Gutiérrez, who scored 21 goals. to appearances in the final hexagonal in the 70s, Deportes Quindío made an outstanding campaign in the final stretch of the
1996–97 season, with players such as strikers
Daniel Tílger and
Rubén Darío Hernández, midfielders Marquinho and Juan Guillermo Villa, defenders Robinson Rojas, Alexánder Posada, and Frank Rengifo, keeper
Darío Aguirre, team captain Jorge Iván Victoria and
Óscar Héctor Quintabani as manager. The team made it to the finals of the
Torneo Adecuación but were beaten there by
Atlético Bucaramanga and prevented from playing the finals against
América de Cali with a late goal by
Orlando Ballesteros in the second leg. Nevertheless, the defeat in the Adecuación finals qualified Deportes Quindío to the
1998 Copa CONMEBOL, where they were eliminated by Brazilian side
Sampaio Corrêa in the quarter-finals. In 1998, Quindío made it to the semi-finals in the league, finishing in seventh place in the overall table and qualifying to the
next year's Copa CONMEBOL, in which they lost to Venezuelan side
Estudiantes de Mérida on penalties in the first round. In
2000, one year after the
1999 Armenia earthquake that devastated the region, Deportes Quindío ended the season in last place of the overall table and were relegated to
Categoría Primera B for the first time, but were immediately promoted back to the top tier by winning the 2001 Primera B tournament with
Eduardo Lara as manager. Deportes Quindío were relegated to Primera B for the second time at the end of the
2013 Categoría Primera A season despite winning their last game against Boyacá Chicó, after they ended in bottom place of the relegation table with 114 points, one point behind
Cúcuta Deportivo, who defeated
Atlético Nacional and qualified for the relegation play-off. This defeat qualified Quindío for the promotion play-off, where they had one last chance to earn promotion but they eventually lost to
Uniautónoma. The following year, Deportes Quindío took part in a
special tournament made to expand the Primera A tournament to 20 teams, in which they narrowly missed out on promotion after drawing with Cúcuta Deportivo with a controversial goal scored by
Marco Lazaga, while in
2016, they were once again left at the doors of promotion, losing a crucial match to
América de Cali on the final semi-finals matchday when they just needed a draw to clinch promotion. Deportes Quindío stayed in Primera B until the
2021 season, when they won the Apertura tournament by beating
Cortuluá in the double-legged final and advanced to play the grand final against
Atlético Huila, winners of the
2020 tournament. Although they ended up losing the grand final to Huila by a 3–1 aggregate score, they were promoted after ending up on top of the aggregate table of the 2020 and 2021–I tournaments. However, their stay in Primera A was short-lived, being relegated back to the second tier after just five months with a 3–0 defeat at home against
Patriotas, who were the team's main rivals in the relegation table of the
2021 Primera A tournament. ==Stadium==