The club was formed in 1907 as Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi - Helsingfors Fotbollsklubb in 1907 by Fredrik Wathen. The first meeting took place at a bowling center in Kaisaniemi Park in May. The first competitive match took place with Ekenas IF in Ekenas. HJK defeated Ekenas IF 2-4.
In the beginning, HJK became popular amongst students who spoke Finnish, whereas those who were Swedish preferred to play mostly with Unitas and HIFK. In 1908, following an argument that was heated that resulted in the switch of the language to unilingual Finnish which resulted in several Swedish-speaking players moving to HIFK and other clubs but a few chose to remain.
in 1909 the colors white and blue were picked in support of the fennoman cause and bandy was made the second official sport of the club. The club relocated from the Kaisaniemi Ground to the new Elaintarha Stadium. The end of the year Fredrik Wathen had to quit his position as chairman of the club due to an illness.
The year 1910 saw Lauri Tanner was named the longest-running club president to the present. In the same year the club's first international game was held, with Eriksdals IF from Stockholm in Kaisaniemi. The first championship was taken in 1911. The club was founded in 1915 and relocated to the newly constructed Toolon Pallokentta. It was in 1916 that tennis was added in the three official sporting events for HJK and was played at the club up to the early 1920s. In the Finnish Civil War in 1918 2 HJK club members who were fighting on behalf of the "Whites" were killed.
In 1921 the first ever bandy championship was won. During the next five seasons, HJK reached five finals taking home three more championships. The bowling sport was added into the team's repertoire in 1925, however the bowlers created the club they had created, Helsingin Keilaajat, the next year. The year 1928 was the first time ice hockey was made an official sport, and its first title was held in 1929. League format was introduced into Finnish football in the year 1930, but HJK was not able to make it into the league for the first time. The year 1931 was the first time HJK participated in their inaugural season of the league however , at the conclusion in the league, they got eliminated from the league.
In World War II, HJK lost 22 members of the military. Of those, nine died during the Winter War, twelve in the Continuation War and one in the Lapland War. The sport of handball in 1943 was made available as the sixth official sports. HJK was awarded two bronze and two silver medals in handball over the next three seasons, but didn't achieve further successes. Handball was the first of HJK's sport where women also participated. Ladies' teams competed for 23 seasons, all at top standard; their best finishing position was fourth.
The year 1963 was the time that HJK had their final season at the second division of the pyramid of football and won 20 of 22 matches , and making 127 goal. in 1964, the newly-promoted club took home their 10th championship. The following season, 1965-66 they took part in their very first European Cup match, against Manchester United at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The defeat of 2-9 resulted in HJK's disqualification from the competition.
The club won their first cup championship with a victory over KTP by 6-1, in the presence of 7,000 fans. The bandy section was disbanded by the latter half of the 1960s. The final official sport that was played, figure skating, added to the roster of the club in 1966. However, it was removed in 1972. The ice hockey division was also disbanded in the year 1972 and the final season of handball took place in 1978. The following season, HJK therefore only participated in football for the next the 69-year period as a multisport team.
In 1998 and 1999, HJK becoming the only and until date, the sole Finnish club to take part in the group phase in the UEFA Champions League after defeating Metz in the second round of qualifying. The club also earned an impressive five points in their group, beating Benfica at home, and earning draws at home to 1. FC Kaiserslautern and away to Benfica. They were defeated by PSV twice, and also to Kaiserslautern away.
The current stadium for the club The stadium, known as Bolt Arena, which is the club's current home stadium Bolt Arena, was opened in 2000. The 20th championship was taken in 2002. Then, it was in the year 2008 that the club was awarded its 10th Finnish Cup title. The 2009 season marked the beginning of a championship streak that brought six titles consecutively from 2009 until the year 2014.
The year 2014 saw HJK made history as the only Finnish club to participate within the UEFA Europa League group stage after beating Rapid Wien in the play-off round. HJK won against Torino as well as Copenhagen in their home stadium, came in second in their group, with six points.
HJK has made several purchases in the winter of 2015 which included Cordoba forward Mike Havenaar, J-league playmaker Atomu Tanaka as well as Birmingham City holding midfielder Guy Moussi. With these new players on their team, HJK began the season with a bang, having the cup won by the club, which was something they haven't done since 1998. HJK also played their first derby at home against HIFK in April 1972, and drew 1-1. But, HJK could not replicate the success in league play they enjoyed the previous six seasons. They finished the 2015 season in 3rd spot, just in third place behind the champions SJK and second-placed RoPS.
The 2017 season saw the club only lost three times, resulting in a double win in the domestic league.