The club was founded in 1977 as Strela Chelyabinsk. From 1977 to 1989 the club played in the regional leagues, and won the league title in 1980. The club also played the regional final 5 times, winning it in 1986 and 1987. In 1990 the club was renamed to Zenit Chelyabinsk. It was promoted to the second-highest level,
Russian First Division, in 1992. The following year, the club was relegated. In 2009 the club was renamed to its current name, FC Chelyabinsk. The club made a great run in the
2009–10 Russian Cup, reaching the round of 16. Chelyabinsk entered the competition in the second round, where they beat
FC Tyumen. In the third round, they defeated
Gornyak Uchaly, and in the fourth round, they eliminated
Gazovik Orenburg 4–1. In the fifth round, they defeated second division club
FC KAMAZ. Now in the round of 32, the club produced a massive
upset when they beat
Russian Premier League club
PFC Krylia. Their run came to an end in the round of 16, where
Mordovia Saransk defeated them 2–0. In the 2024–25 Second League Division A season, Chelyabinsk qualified to the promotion play-offs, where they defeated
Volgar Astrakhan in a penalty shoot-out (after 1–1 aggregate tie), earning promotion to the
Russian First League. ==Current squad==