Campeonato Gaúcho

The Campeonato Gaúcho (English: Gaúcho Championship), officially named as Campeonato Gaúcho de Futebol Série A and commonly known as the Gauchão or the Gauchão Ipiranga for sponsorship reasons, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is run by the Rio Grande do Sul Football Federation (FGF).

The rivalry of two of the better-known Brazilian teams ( Grêmio and Internacional) have a significant impact in the history of the tournament. Since 1940, the Grenal duo did not win the title on just four occasions: the defunct Renner was champion in 1954, Juventude almost 44 years later in 1998, Caxias, in 2000, under Tite's command, and Novo Hamburgo in 2017.
Internacional is the biggest winner of the competition, with 46 titles, followed by Grêmio with 43 titles and Guarany of Bagé with two titles.

History

The first edition of the Campeonato Gaúcho was scheduled to take place in 1918, featuring the teams Esporte Clube 14 de Julho representing Santana do Livramento, Brasil de Pelotas, and Esporte Clube Cruzeiro from Porto Alegre in a final triangular. However, due to an outbreak of Spanish flu in Rio Grande do Sul, the tournament was cancelled and postponed until the epidemic subsided. In 1919, with the end of the epidemic, the first edition of the tournament was finally held. In December 2021, the Federação Gaúcha de Futebol recognised the three participating clubs from the 1918 edition as "Honorary Champions.", connecting the struggles with the Spanish flu the COVID-19 pandemic.

The original plan of the organisers was to include representatives from various cities and regions. However, the representatives from Bagé ( Guarany Futebol Clube), Cruz Alta (unknown club), Santana do Livramento ( Esporte Clube 14 de Julhoo), São Leopoldo (Sport Club Nacional), and Uruguaiana ( Esporte Clube Uruguaiana were unable to register their players in time and were therefore eliminated. As a result, only the representatives from Pelotas and Porto Alegre remained: Brasil and Grêmio. Brasil de Pelotas emerged as the champions of the tournament.

Until 1960, the Campeonato Gaúcho was contested on a regional basis, using a knockout system between the champion of the capital and a variable number of other clubs representing regions of the state. For this reason, until 1960, there had never been more than one team from Porto Alegre among the top four finishers—in fact, there had never been more than one representative from the capital competing in the championship.

During this period, Grêmio reached the final 18 times against the champion from the interior, winning 12 times and losing 6. Internacional, on the other hand, were crowned champions of Porto Alegre in 16 seasons and, when facing the champion from the interior, won 15 times and lost only once—against Rio Grande in 1936. The other Porto Alegre clubs that reached the finals of the Campeonato Gaúcho under this regional format (Americano in 1928, Cruzeiro-RS in 1929, and Renner in 1954) all won their matches against the interior clubs.

Thus, in 42 years of the championship under this format, there were 30 victories for the capital compared to 7 for the interior. The Campeonato Gaúcho was not held in 1923 and 1924 due to the Revolution of 1923. Additionally, the main teams from Porto Alegre did not participate in 1937, 1938, and 1939 due to a split within the AMGEA (Associação Metropolitana Gaúcha de Esportes Atléticos) over the adoption of professionalism between clubs and their players.

From 1961 onwards, the Campeonato Gaúcho was unified, with the top clubs from the capital and the interior competing for the title in the top division, and a promotion and relegation system (which varied over time) for the lower divisions.

In the first seven years after unification (1961–67), the Campeonato Gaúcho was contested by 12 clubs in a double round-robin format. Between 1968 and 1971, with the number of clubs increasing to 18 (later 25 and 23), a preliminary qualifying phase was introduced, but the final phase, contested by 8 clubs, remained a double round-robin. In 1972, the final phase expanded to 10 clubs under the same format.

In 1973–74, with more of the year dedicated to the Campeonato Brasileiro, the preliminary phase of the Gauchão no longer included the Grenal duo (Grêmio and Internacional). For the first time, the final phase was contested using the "Fórmula Fraga" system, with two independent rounds. [The "Fórmula Fraga" is the Brazilian term for tournaments played in two independent rounds, with separate points tallies, but with only one champion, determined by a final match between the winners of each round.] In 1975–77, the "Fórmula Fraga" became more complex, with three independent phases, though the first round served as a qualifier for the subsequent phases, which were contested by only 4 teams (8 in 1977). In 1978, the championship format became so convoluted that Grêmio found themselves in a position where they had to lose a match to secure their place in the final phase.

Qualification for competitions

The best placed of league qualify for the next year's Campeonato Brasileiro Série D, excluding the teams having already qualified for the Série A, Série B, Série C or Série D by other means. The worst placed are relegated to the Campeonato Gaúcho Série A2.

The winner of the Campeonato Gaúcho faces the winner of the state cup Copa FGF at the super cup Recopa Gaúcha.

Champions

Amateur era

Professional era

Notes

*9º Regimento de Pelotas is the currently GA Farroupilha.
*Floriano is the currently EC Novo Hamburgo.
*Ulbra is the currently Canoas SC.

Titles by team

Teams in bold still active.

By city

Participation

Most appearances

Below is the list of clubs that have more appearances in the Campeonato Gaúcho.

* SER Caxias includes the participations of "Associação Caxias de Futebol" (1972–1975), when GE Flamengo and EC Juventude were merged.

See also

* Campeonato Gaúcho Série A2
* Campeonato Gaúcho Série B
* Copa FGF
* Recopa Gaúcha
* Super Copa Gaúcha
* Copa Metropolitana
* Copa Sul-Fronteira
* Copa Serrana

References

External links

FGF website
Federação Gaúcha de Futebol.
Campeonato Gaúcho regulations
Federação Gaúcha de Futebol.

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Gaúcho