AGF played its first football match against Aarhus Idrætsklub Olympia in November 1902, a 5–2 loss. Six years later, the club won the Jutland Football Championship by winning 3–2 over
Ringkøbing IF in the final. AGF won the Jutland Football Championship seven times and was in three finals of the
Danish Football Championship before AGF became a member of the newly founded Denmark Tournament in 1927. In 1911, AGF got its own clubhouse after which the club bought the pitches at Dalgas Avenue. In 1920, AGF began to play its home matches at the newly built
Aarhus Stadium, where the club has played ever since. In 1941, the club moved from the clubhouse at Dalgas Avenue to Fredensvang in the suburb of
Viby J. For three consecutive seasons (1949 to 1951) AGF finished in third place in the top division. After spending the 1952–53 season in the 2nd Division, AGF returned strongly to the 1st Division and in the next 12 seasons won four
Danish Football Championships and five
Danish Cups. AGF also participated in the first edition of the
European Cup, where they lost 4–2 on aggregate to French club
Reims with three goals scored by
Léon Glovacki. In 1961, AGF reached the quarter-final in the same tournament where they lost to eventual tournament winners
Benfica. AGF were relegated to the 2nd Division in 1968 and in 1973 but returned to the 1st Division in 1976. This was the start of 30 continuous years in the top division. The introduction of professional football in Denmark had a major influence on the success AGF experienced from the late 1970s and forward until 1998. With former
Real Madrid star
Henning Jensen on the team, AGF were close at winning the Danish Football Championship in 1982. AGF drew 2–2 against
B.93 in the last game of the season which sent the championship to
OB. In 1984, AGF were again close to clinching the championship but lost by a single point to the rivals from
Vejle Boldklub. Finally in 1986, AGF won their fifth
Danish Football Championship.
Flemming Povlsen,
Jan Bartram and
John Stampe were the key players of the team these years. In 1987, 1988 and 1992 AGF also won the
Danish Cup. In 1996, with players such as
Stig Tøfting and
Håvard Flo, AGF were again close to winning the
Danish Football Championship, but lost the title to
Brøndby IF in dramatic fashion on the second to last matchday when opposing goalkeeper
Mogens Krogh headed in the 3–3 equaliser. AGF would, however, win the
Danish Cup that season by beating Brøndby. In 1998, AGF finished third in the
Danish Superliga but financial problems resulted in poor results the following years. In 2000, Peter Rudbæk was fired after seven years as manager. From 2000 onwards, the club experienced some of its worst ever results, which led to relegations in the
2005–06,
2009–10 and
2013–14 seasons. Each time, however, the club secured a quick return to the top-flight. In the summer of 2014, AGF appointed Jacob Nielsen as their new director. Nielsen had been successful as director of
Randers where he had managed to secure good economic results. AGF also hired a new sporting director and
Morten Wieghorst as manager. On 6 December 2015, however, Nielsen announced that Wieghorst was fired and that former Danish champion
Glen Riddersholm was hired as his replacement. With Riddersholm as manager AGF finished the
2015–16 season in tenth place having won three games, drawn seven, and lost five in the remainder of the season. AGF qualified for
2016 cup final, in which they lost 2–1 to FC Copenhagen. In the
2016–17 season, AGF finished 11th after having played relegation play-off matches in the new league structure introduced that season. On 30 September 2017, Riddersholm was fired due to inconsistent results. At that point AGF was seventh in the league having started the
2017–18 season with four wins, five defeats, and two draws. Riddersholm's last match was a 5–1 win against FC Helsingør. New manager was
David Nielsen who started with four consecutive league defeats but finished the season in seventh place after losing a European play-off final against
FC Copenhagen 4–1. After reaching eighth place in
2018–19 season, the club managed to win the
bronze medal in the
2019–20 season. == Rivalries ==