Levante was waiting until the mid-1960s to make their La Liga debut. The club was in the league when it came in as runners-up in the second group of the division, beating Deportivo de La Coruna 4-2 in aggregate during playoffs for promotion. The first premier league season the club managed to beat both teams against Valencia and managed an impressive 5-1 win at home against Barcelona in the 1964-65 period but was nevertheless relegated following being eliminated in the finals to Malaga. The team spent the majority of the rest of the decade in the third and second divisions. Segunda Division B would not be established until 1977.
In the 1980s, Dutch star Johan Cruyff played half a season with the club before then stepping down after three seasons. After winning the second division in 2003-04, Levante returned to the highest level, but only for one season. The team finished third in 2005-06. it was back for two more seasons, with the most important match during the 2006-07 season was the 4-2 win at home against Valencia thanks to Riga Mustapha (two goals), Salva and Laurent Courtois.
Levante's financial situation deteriorated, however, there was a report that the players only received around one-fifth of the contractual amount. Reports from the media stated that the club was in the sum of EUR18 million in due payments the players. The team fell down the rankings and it was later confirmed that the club will be within the 2nd division for 2008-09, with a few games to play. The players were furious over their inability to pay at the time, and refused to move for a couple of seconds following the first whistle against Deportivo and later announcing they were going to take an action against the team during the game that ended the season at Real Madrid. The dispute was settled after league officials announced the benefit game was scheduled to play between Levante team members and the team comprised comprising players of first division and all the benefits would be used to pay wages due for the team.
On June 13, 2010 Levante made its return to La Liga after a 3-1 home victory over already delegated Castellon. The team was defeated in the final game 0-4 against Real Betis, but its opponents could only be able to finish the season with the same score as fourth. Under the management of the man who guided the team back to highest level, Luis Garcia Plaza, Levante was able to keep its status as a division in its 2010-11 campaign. At one point in Levante's league's 2nd round of matches Levante was third at the bottom of the Liga table, just two points behind Barcelona as well as Real Madrid after losing just one time in 12 games in a match against Real Madrid.
On October 26, 2011, in round nine of the season Levante beat Real Sociedad 3-2 to move at the top of the table. 23 points.[] This is the very first time that in club's history that they reached the highest position at the top of the division. It won seven straight games after drawing the first two games. The club ended up in sixth place after beating Athletic Bilbao 3-0 at home in the final match of the season which allowed them to qualify for UEFA Europa League for the first time in the history of the club. In the final round, they advanced to the last 16 stage before losing 2-0 in extra time against Russian club FC Rubin Kazan.
For the season 2015-16 Levante was dropped from the league after a defeat by Malaga and was last in the league. The club was relegated to the first league in the 2016-17 season and won the Segunda Division title. The 2017-18 campaign saw the team was able to secure their league safety and on the 13th of May, it defeated the champions Barcelona with a score of 5-4 (initially in the lead 5-1) and Emmanuel Boateng scoring his first ever hat-trick in his career. The victory ended Barcelona's hopes of having an unbeaten campaign.
In the 2021-22 campaign, Levante was knocked out of the league after being defeat by Real Madrid, ending their five seasons in the top division.