The club was founded in 1957 as Hollandia Inala Soccer Club by Dutch immigrants and competed as Hollandia until 1974 when they changed their name to Brisbane Lions. In 1977 the Brisbane Lions were invited to play in the National Soccer League. They played in the NSL as Brisbane Lions until the end of the 1988 season. From 1989 the Lions played in the Brisbane Premier League and eventually in 2002 changed their name again to the Queensland Lions.

In 2004 it was announced that the Lions had won the right to compete in the A-League. Operating as Queensland Roar the club was once again represented in an Australian national league.

In their first season in the A-League (2005-06) they finished a disapointing 6th out of 8 although they boasted once of the highest attendances of the newly formed league. Season 2006-07 started in a much better fashion although a string of defeats left them still out of Finals contention at the end of the season and lying in 5th position.

Season 3 (2007-08) was a much better season for the Roar despite having a less than perfect start, eventually at the end of the season the Roar found themselves in 4th position in the finals for the first time. The went past the first hurdle by beating Sydney in the Semi-Finals but eventually lost to Newcastle in the Preliminary Final.