The club was founded in 2004 as Virumaa Jalgpalliklubi Rakvere (). From 2008, Rakvere became affiliated with
Flora and became Rakvere FC Flora. In 2011, the team name was changed to Tarvas (), which is the
symbol of Rakvere and is derived from the historic name of the town, Tarvanpea (''Aurochs' head''). In 2012, Tarvas was promoted to
Esiliiga and finished the
2012 season in third place. The club faced
JK Tallinna Kalev in the promotion play-offs, but lost 1–3 on aggregate. Tarvas finished the
2013 Esiliiga season in 4th place but were beaten in the promotion play-offs by
Tartu Tammeka 2–6 on aggregate. In July 2014,
Valeri Bondarenko was hired as manager. Rakvere Tarvas finished the
2015 Esiliiga season in 4th place and as the three higher placed teams were reserve teams and thus ineligible for promotion, Tarvas were promoted to the
Meistriliiga for the first time in their history. In the process, they became the first club from
Lääne-Viru County to play in the Estonian top division. Tarvas earned just 1 point in their first 14 Meistriliiga games and on 4 June 2016, Bondarenko was sacked and replaced as manager by
Urmas Kirs. Tarvas earned another two draws and finished the season at the bottom of the table with three points. For the following three seasons, Rakvere Tarvas competed in Esiliiga, before being relegated to
Esiliiga B for 2020 and eventually dropping down to the fourth tier in 2021. ==Players==