Early years

The forerunner of the club is Gia Lai - Kon Tum football team, founded in 1976. Despite being an amateur team, the team also once won the A2 championship (equivalent to the A2 championship) including South Central and Central Highlands.^[3] In 1991, the province Gia Lai - Kon Tum was separated into Gia Lai and Kon Tum; Some players of Gia Lai - Kon Tum team returned to be the core of the new team with the name Gia Lai football team.

Hoang Anh Gia Lai era

For 10 years, the team was organized with the model of a career unit with an average performance in the First Division and not very well known on the football map of Vietnam. In 2001, the team was transformed into a semi-professional model under the sponsorship of Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group. Before the football season V.League 2 2001-2002, the club's chairman Đoàn Nguyên Đức signed a contract with the captain of Thailand national football team at that time, Kiatisuk Senamuang.^[4] In the Thai press ran big "headline" "Who is Hoang Anh? Where is Gia Lai" full of ridicule,and the media in Vietnam also have many doubts about the ability to attract a high-class player like Kiatisuk to Gia Lai. However, all rumors ended on February 17, 2002, when Kiatisuk and teammate defender Chukiat Noosarung came to Vietnam to prepare to play for the team.This is considered one of the most successful contracts of Vietnamese football. Kiatisuk helped Hoang Anh Gia Lai's team to be promoted right in that season. At the end of the season, the team was officially transferred to Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group for management, changed its name to Hoang Anh Gia Lai Football Club, becoming one of the first professional football club in Vietnam. The club made a record of winning the 2003 V-League championship after having just been promoted and successfully defended its title the following season. At the same time, the team also won two Vietnamese Super Cup in those years.

In the years that followed, the club built a team that was nicknamed "Dream Team" by Vietnamese fans, after Thai players like Dusit Chalermsan arrived to the team.

But the most successful period of this period of the club was 2007, when Hoang Anh Gia Lai succeeded in signing an agreement with the English football club Arsenal to open the football in Pleiku. Hoang Anh Gia Lai is also Arsenal's main partner in business in Southeast Asia. After two years, the development of the academy's first generation of players is considered very promising.

In the 2010 season, Hoang Anh Gia Lai club had a change in its team development plan when using many young players trained by themselves, instead of massively shopping like in previous seasons. At the same time, the club's legend, the former Thai striker,Kiatisuk Senamuang was invited by the club's president Doan Nguyen Duc to lead the team. The club has had a good momentum ahead of the new season when winning the Ho Chi Minh City football championship. Ho Chi Minh Open - Navibank Cup 2010. However, the performance at the national championship has not improved much when at the end of the season 2010 V-League, Hoang Anh Gia Lai only ranked 7th and runner up in the Vietnamese National Cup.

The 2011 season was a season where the performance of the whole team was very erratic. Although coach Dusit left the coaching chair after the first leg and was replaced by coach Huynh Van Anh, the team's performance not only did not improve but also showed signs of going down. At the end of 2011 V-League, Hoang Anh Gia Lai ranked 9th, this is the worst performance since the club came to play in V-League.

In the 2012 season, Hoang Anh Gia Lai made a revolution in the coaching chair, when the club's board decided to invite Korean coach Choi Yoon Gyum to lead the team. The Korean coach has improved the player's fitness and professionalism. 5th place at the end of the season is still considered a good achievement for Mr. Choi Yoon-Gyum and the players.

From June 30, 2017, the entire cooperation between Arsenal and Hoang Anh Gia Lai ends. HAGL Academy – Arsenal JMG also changed its name to HAGL-JMG Academy.^[5]

In the 2021 V.League 1, Kiatisuk Senamuang were invited back to lead by the team's leadership. The club started V.League 1 not very well when they lost 1–0 to Saigon with a score of 1-0. This loss opened the team's 11-match unbeaten streak (won 9, drew 2) and helped the team reach the top 6 teams, before the 2021 season had to be stopped and then canceled because the impact of COVID-19 pandemic in Vietnam.

Hanoi Football Club

In the 21st century, Hoang Anh Gia Lai and Hanoi are widely the most supported clubs in Vietnam, so the confrontation between the two clubs is dubbed the "Vietnamese Super Derby". From 2009 to the end of 2023, They met totally 34 times in all competitions, Hanoi overwhelmed with 17 wins, 7 draws, 10 losses. But the great battle between the two teams only started to get attention from 2018, when U23 Vietnam won runner-up in 2018 AFC U-23 Championship with almost players who are playing for both of these teams. Since then, the matches with Hoang Anh Gia Lai have always been the focus of the media when the competition between the two teams.

Unregistred players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  VIE Huỳnh Trần Bảo Duy

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  VIE Lê Huy Kiệt

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  VIE Nguyễn Đình Tùng (at Hải Phòng until 7 July 2024) — DF  VIE Nguyễn Cảnh Anh (at Cheonan City until 31 December 2024) — FW  VIE Lê Minh Bình (at PVF-CAND until 7 July 2024)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW  VIE Trần Hữu Đăng (at Hải Phòng until 7 July 2024) — FW  VIE Vũ Minh Hiếu (at Cheonan City until 31 December 2024)

Retired numbers

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 FW  THA Kiatisuk Senamuang 14 DF  VIE Võ Bá Khôi (posthumous honour)

Continental record

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2003	ASEAN Club Championship	Group C	Persita Tangerang	1–2	2nd out of 3
			MCTPC	2–1
		Quarter-finals	BEC Tero Sasana	1–2
2004	AFC Champions League	Group F	PSM Makassar	5–1	0–3	2nd out of 4
			Dalian Shide	3–1	0–2
			Krung Thai Bank	0–1	2–2
2005	AFC Champions League	Group E	Suwon Samsung Bluewings	1–5	0–6	4th out of 4
			Júbilo Iwata	0–1	0–6
			Shenzhen Jianlibao	0–2	0–5
	ASEAN Club Championship	Group A	Pahang FA	0–4	2nd out of 4
			Nagacorp	5–1
			FC Zebra	14–1
		Semi-finals	Tampines Rovers	0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)
2022	AFC Champions League	Group H	Yokohama F. Marinos	1–2	0–2	3rd out of 4
			Sydney FC	1–0	1–1
			Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	1–1	0–1

League record

National competitions

League

• V.League 1:

Winners: 2003, 2004

Third place: 2007, 2013

Cup

• Vietnamese Super Cup:

Winners: 2003, 2004

• Vietnamese Cup:

Runners-up: 2010

Third place: 2014, 2022

Other competitions

• ASEAN Club Championship:

Third place: 2005

• BTV Cup:

Winners : 2018

• Quang Trung Emperor's Cup:

Winners: 2022