The club was formed on 1 January 2003, as a collaboration between six local Randers-clubs; Dronningborg Boldklub (founded 1928),
Hornbæk Sportsforening (founded 1945), Kristrup Boldklub (founded
1908),
Randers Freja (founded
1898),
Randers KFUM (founded
1920) and
Vorup Frederiksberg Boldklub (founded 1930), continuing Randers Freja's (at the time) 1st division-team.
First years and Cup success In the first season as a newly created club, Randers ended in fourth place in the
Viasat Sport Division with 51 points. The captain of the
Denmark national team which won
UEFA Euro 1992,
Lars Olsen, was coach of the team. The following year, the team ended in second place with 66 points and was promoted to the country's best league, the
SAS Liga. With only 24 points in 2004–05 season in the
SAS Liga, Randers finished in last place. In the 2005–06 season, however, Randers redeemed itself, securing promotion back to the SAS League with 61 points while also winning the
Danish Cup with a 1–0 victory over
Esbjerg in the final at
Parken Stadium on 11 May 2006. Randers was the first team since 1974 who managed to win the Danish Cup although playing in the second-highest league in Denmark. In mid-
2005, the club brought in former Denmark national team midfielder
Stig Tøfting on a
free transfer, after
AGF, his childhood-club, refused to let him play (even for free) due to his violent background with several
sentences. Tøfting was appointed Assistant Coach in November 2006. In the
2006–07 season, Randers finished in eighth place with 38 points, as well as participation in the
UEFA Cup the season before, where the club met
ÍA of Iceland,
FBK Kaunas of Lithuania and major club
Fenerbahçe from Turkey. Before the start of the
2007–08 season, Randers signed former
England national team player
Colin Todd as its new manager. Randers started the season in great fashion, winning its first four matches (most notably a 5–0 win against
Aalborg BK). In the second half of the 2007–08 season, Randers continued to improve in the Danish league. With new signings
Marc Nygaard and
Søren Berg, expectations grew as the season progressed, and Randers ultimately finished in sixth place following a 2–1 win against
Brøndby IF in the final matchday of the season. The
2008–09 season started in promising fashion for the club, recording a 3–1 win against the local rivals AGF. Randers continued its solid start with a 1–1 a draw with
Copenhagen. In the third round, Randers was to play Brøndby away; the club had never defeated Brøndby away before. Randers won 0–3 following goals from
Carsten Fredgaard,
Bédi Buval and Tidiane Sane. After the five first rounds, Randers was still undefeated, though at the winter break Randers was placed mid-table.
Up and down years On 4 November 2008 Randers announced that former Danish international
John "Faxe" Jensen would become its new manager from 1 July following the ending of Colin Todd's contract. Todd, however, expressed his frustration about how Randers had dealt with the situation and openly criticised the club for putting him in a difficult situation. Jensen ended up taking the place as manager six months before schedule due to the club having reached an agreement with the then present manager Todd. Jensen was officially announced new manager on 5 January. He started his time in Randers in great fashion, winning the first league game of the season against local rivals AGF 2–1. However, the club failed to sustain the winning form when they went to draw against
Vejle BK and thereafter lost the following three games to the top three sides
OB, Copenhagen and BIF. The team's losing streak culminated in a 1–6 to
Nordsjælland. The club, however, responded well to the losing streak and won the next five games, ironically setting a new club winning streak. The season ended with a 3–3 draw away against Danish champions Copenhagen and a fifth-place finish, it highest league rank in club history.
Marc Nygaard claimed the golden boot for 16 goals during the season.
Morten Nordstrand was later credited for a goal on penalty in the final match, and also had a goal tally of 16, but Nygaard was awarded the title as he was the first to reach the 16 goals. Randers and Faxe decided that Tøfting was not the right choice as assistant manager, and, on 1 May 2009, the club announced that Tøfting's contract would not be extended. On 2 June, the club announced that two of Jensen's colleagues from the Euro 1992-winning Danish side –
Henrik Larsen and
Flemming Povlsen – as its new assistant managers; Larsen was named first assistant manager while Povlsen as assistant focused on the club's attack. However, after a catastrophic start to the
2009–10 season with only 2 points earned from 11 league games, Jensen and his assistants were released from their contracts.
Ove Christensen was appointed new head coach for Randers for the remainder of the 2009–10 season. He was given the objective to save Randers from relegation, although Randers was projected to be relegated at the winter break by the media and experts. However, a historic comeback with 16 games without defeat meant that its topflight status was to be decided on the final day of the season. A loss to Brøndby would mean that if AGF won its game against OB, the best team of the spring season would be relegated. OB won 0–3 and Randers lost its first match in the second half of the season 1–3, ensuring Randers kept their top-flight status.
Yura Movsisyan was arguably the key in Randers' survival, as he scored 7 goals in 13 games. When Ove Christensen arrived, he gave the squad an overhaul and nine players were released or sold in the winter break of 2009–10 season. He also made several signings:
Anders Egholm from
SønderjyskE,
Morten Karlsen from Nordsjælland and
Søren Jensen on loan from
Odd Grenland. Christensen signed a new one-year contract as head coach on 17 May 2010. In the following season, however, Christensen could not follow up on the success and was fired after a loss to Brøndby. Peter Elstrup and Allan Kuhn were Brough in as caretakers but could not prevent Randers' relegation at the end of the season. Michael Hemmingsen was named new head coach with the first task to bring Randers back to the Superliga. With Hemmingsen as head coach, Randers ended the 2011–12 season in second place in the Danish 1st division, thereby earning promotion back to the Superliga.
League success and Europa League qualification at
Cepheus Park Randers Despite having earned promotion to the
Danish Superliga, Hemmingsen was replaced as head coach by former Randers coach
Colin Todd, who returned to the club following his coaching spell from 2007 to 2009. Randers did well in its first season after being promoted, ending its 2012–13 league campaign in third place, the club's best ever league finish. The team also reached the final in the Danish Cup, but lost 1–0 to Esbjerg. Nonetheless, the league result meant that Randers was to participate in the UEFA Europa League. It entered the tournament in the third round of qualifying, where it met
Rubin Kazan. Randers, however, lost the home match 2–0 and the away match 2–0, thus failing to qualify for the group stage. During the
2020–21 season, Randers achieved a significant milestone in their history by securing a place in the championship playoffs of the Danish Superliga via a fifth-place finish in the regular season. Moreover, the club claimed victory in the
Danish Cup after defeating
SønderjyskE 4–0 in the final at
Ceres Park in
Aarhus, with goals from
Erik Marxen,
Simon Piesinger, and a brace by
Mathias Greve. This triumph earned them the opportunity to participate in European competition in the 2021–22 season. Although they narrowly missed out on a place in the
UEFA Europa League after losing to
Galatasaray in the playoffs, they qualified for the inaugural
UEFA Europa Conference League group stage. They finished second in their group after competing against
AZ Alkmaar from the Netherlands,
CFR Cluj from Romania, and
Jablonec from the Czech Republic. This result secured their progression to the knockout stage, where they faced English powerhouse
Leicester City, which included
Denmark national team captain
Kasper Schmeichel. Despite their best efforts, they were eliminated from the competition, thus concluding their European journey. == Rivals ==