Pontevedra Club de Fútbol was founded in 1941, following the merge of the two top teams in the city at the moment: Eiriña and Alfonso C.F. The first president of the new club was Fernando Ponte Conde.

Pontevedra promoted to La Liga in 1963 but was relegated a year after, managing to play again in the top flight between 1965 and 1970. During this time the fans coined the motto Hai que roelo, in reference to the difficulties rival teams had when playing a strong side, who achieved a seventh place in 1966, adding an eighth two seasons later; midfielder Ignacio Martín-Esperanza and forwards Neme and Roldán were among the stars of this era, and years following the 1972–73 season saw the team more often than not struggling in lower categories, well into the 2000s.

On 23 January 2007 Pontevedra was transformed into a Sociedade Anónima Deportiva (sporting Joint stock company), as required by Spanish law – this was a general measure introduced in order to revitalise the financial situation of professional football clubs. Yet, some risked disappearance as they could not face the cost involved in this transformation from "private" to "stock company". In the club's case this was made possible after then president, Nino Mirón, had purchased 52 per cent of the stock options; the club then added the letters "S.A.D." to its official name.

The subsequent stated main goal of Pontevedra was to promote back to Segunda División, with the team having last appearing in the category in the 2004–05 campaign. The club qualified for the promotion playoffs for the following three seasons, but failed to go through on each occasion. They were subsequently relegated and spent four seasons in the Galician Tercera División Group, returning to Segunda B via the playoffs after a successful 2014/15 season under the guidance of Luisito.