1997 Campeonato Gaúcho

Campeonato Gaúcho

Season	1997
Champions	Internacional
Relegated	14 de Julho São Borja
Copa do Brasil	Grêmio Internacional
Série C	Brasil de Pelotas Caxias São José Internacional-SM 15 de Novembro
Matches played	275
Goals scored	808 (2.94 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marcus Vinícius (Guarani-VA) – 28 goals
Biggest home win	Guarani-VA 7-1 Internacional-SM (March 2, 1997)
Biggest away win	Brasil de Pelotas 0-4 Internacional-SM (March 9, 1997) 14 de Julho 0-4 15 de Novembro (March 19, 1997) 14 de Julho 0-4 São José (March 26, 1997) Grêmio Santanense 0-3 Internacional (April 16, 1997)
Highest scoring	Guarani-VA 6-4 Passo Fundo (February 2, 1997)
Longest unbeaten run	15 de Novembro Grêmio – 12 matches
← 1996 1998 →

The 77th season of the Campeonato Gaúcho kicked off on February 2, 1997, and ended on June 29, 1997. Twenty-eight teams participated. Internacional beat holders Grêmio in the finals and won their 33rd title. 14 de Julho and São Borja were relegated.

Participating teams

Aimoré and Atlético de Carazinho withdrew before the start of the championship, and to replace them, São Borja and Farroupilha were promoted to the First level.

Club	Home location	Previous season
14 de Julho	Santana do Livramento	24th
15 de Novembro	Campo Bom	26th
Brasil	Pelotas	4th
Brasil	Farroupilha	10th
Caxias	Caxias do Sul	4th
Esportivo	Bento Gonçalves	14th
Farroupilha	Pelotas	4th (Second level)
Glória	Vacaria	8th
Grêmio	Porto Alegre	1st
Grêmio	Santana do Livramento	11th
Guarani	Venâncio Aires	16th
Guarany	Garibaldi	23rd
Internacional	Porto Alegre	5th
Internacional	Santa Maria	20th
Juventude	Caxias do Sul	2nd
Novo Hamburgo	Novo Hamburgo	1st (Second level)
Palmeirense	Palmeira das Missões	21st
Passo Fundo	Passo Fundo	19th
Pelotas	Pelotas	13th
São Borja	São Borja	3rd (Second level)
São José	Porto Alegre	1st (Second level)
São Luiz	Ijuí	9th
São Paulo	Rio Grande	25th
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz do Sul	17th
Santo Ângelo	Santo Ângelo	3rd
Taquariense	Taquari	22nd
Veranópolis	Veranópolis	12th
Ypiranga	Erechim	6th

System

The championship would have five stages:

• Division A: The fourteen teams all played each other in a single round-robin system. The eight best teams qualified to the Second phase, while the bottom two teams would dispute the Division B in the following year. Caxias and Brasil de Pelotas, due to their performance in the 1996 Copa Daltro Menezes, were automatically qualified regardless of placing and had one bonus point in the Second phase.
• Division B: The twelve teams that had qualified to Division B in the previous year joined the two teams that had been promoted from the Second level, and were divided into two groups of seven, in which each team played the teams of its own group in a double round-robin system. the best four teams in each group qualified to the Second phase of that division, the leader of each group earning a bonus point, while the three worst teams in each group would dispute the Relegation Playoffs. In the second phase, the remaining eight teams would be divided into two groups of four, in which each team played the teams of its own group in a double round-robin system. The beat team of each group would qualify to the Second phase of the championship, and to the Division A of the following year.
• Relegation Playoffs: The six teams that had qualified to this round played each other in a double round-robin format. The two teams with the fewest points were relegated.
• Second phase: The ten remaining teams were divided into two groups of five, in which each team played the teams of its own group in a double round-robin system. The two best teams in each group qualified to the Semifinals.
• Final rounds: The remaining four teams played a series of two-legged knockout ties to define the champions.

Championship

Division A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Grêmio	13	9	3	1	31	9	+22	30	Qualified
2	Juventude	13	6	4	3	20	10	+10	22
3	Caxias	13	6	4	3	17	11	+6	22
4	Brasil de Pelotas	13	6	3	4	19	19	0	21
5	Internacional	13	5	6	2	19	10	+9	21
6	Pelotas	13	6	2	5	21	21	0	20
7	Brasil de Farroupilha	13	5	4	4	18	20	−2	19
8	Veranópolis	13	5	2	6	15	16	−1	17
9	Glória	13	5	2	6	17	19	−2	17
10	Ypiranga de Erechim	13	4	5	4	21	20	+1	17
11	São Luiz	13	5	1	7	16	16	0	16
12	Santo Ângelo	13	3	1	9	14	26	−12	10
13	Grêmio Santanense	13	2	4	7	8	26	−18	10	1998 Division B
14	Esportivo	13	1	5	7	12	25	−13	8

Updated to match(es) played on April 20, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Division B

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	15 de Novembro	12	7	5	0	26	9	+17	26	Qualified
2	Taquariense	12	6	3	3	18	17	+1	21
3	Farroupilha	12	4	5	3	19	16	+3	17
4	São Paulo	12	4	5	3	12	11	+1	17
5	São José de Porto Alegre	12	4	4	4	19	12	+7	16	Relegation Playoffs
6	Novo Hamburgo	12	2	3	7	10	18	−8	9
7	14 de Julho	12	1	3	8	8	29	−21	6

Updated to match(es) played on March 29, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Guarani de Venâncio Aires	12	7	1	4	36	18	+18	22	Qualified
2	Passo Fundo	12	5	5	2	23	19	+4	20
3	Santa Cruz	12	6	1	5	19	21	−2	19
4	Internacional de Santa Maria	12	5	4	3	19	16	+3	19
5	Guarany de Garibaldi	12	4	3	5	19	21	−2	15	Relegation Playoffs
6	Palmeirense	12	4	2	6	16	21	−5	14
7	São Borja	12	3	0	9	6	24	−18	9

Updated to match(es) played on March 29, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Second phase

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Santa Cruz	6	4	1	1	14	8	+6	13	Qualified;1998 Division A
2	São Paulo	6	2	3	1	9	9	0	9
3	Passo Fundo	6	2	1	3	10	12	−2	7
4	15 de Novembro	9	1	4	4	6	10	−4	8

Updated to match(es) played on April 23, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Guarani de Venâncio Aires	6	4	1	1	11	4	+7	14	Qualified;1998 Division A
2	Internacional de Santa Maria	6	3	2	1	8	6	+2	11
3	Taquariense	6	3	1	2	10	7	+3	10
4	Farroupilha	6	0	0	6	4	16	−12	0

Updated to match(es) played on April 23, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Relegation Playoffs

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Palmeirense	10	5	3	2	23	19	+4	18
2	Novo Hamburgo	10	5	1	4	16	15	+1	16
3	São José de Porto Alegre	10	3	4	3	16	15	+1	13
4	Guarany de Garibaldi	10	3	3	4	16	16	0	12
5	São Borja	10	3	2	5	22	26	−4	11	Relegated
6	14 de Julho	10	1	7	2	12	14	−2	10

Updated to match(es) played on June 8, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Second phase

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Grêmio	8	6	2	0	18	5	+13	20	Qualified
2	Veranópolis	8	4	2	2	10	5	+5	14
3	Pelotas	8	2	5	1	16	12	+4	11
4	Caxias	8	1	4	3	12	14	−2	8
5	Santa Cruz	8	0	1	7	4	24	−20	1

Updated to match(es) played on June 15, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Internacional	8	5	2	1	17	5	+12	17	Qualified
2	Brasil de Pelotas	8	4	1	3	11	10	+1	14
3	Guarani de Venâncio Aires	8	4	1	3	15	15	0	13
4	Juventude	8	4	1	3	14	15	−1	13
5	Brasil de Farroupilha	8	0	1	7	11	23	−12	1

Updated to match(es) played on June 15, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Veranópolis	2–4 (a.e.t)	Internacional	2–1	0–3
Brasil de Pelotas	3–3 (p. 9-8)	Grêmio	1–1	2–2

Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Grêmio	1–2	Internacional	1–1	0–1

25 June 1997

Finals

Grêmio	1 –1	Internacional
Wagner Fernandes 3'		Christian 39'

Olímpico, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 33,416

Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon

29 June 1997

Finals

Internacional	1 – 0	Grêmio
Fabiano 49'

Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre

Attendance: 36,450

Referee: Carlos Eugênio Simon

Copa Galego

For the second semester, a state cup was held; the Copa Galego.

The twelve teams were divided into two groups of six, in which each team played the teams of its own group in a double round-robin format. The four best teams qualified into the Second phase, disputed under the same rules. The two best teams in each group won an automatic qualification into the Second phase of the 1998 championship, and the best teams in each group qualified to the Finals, disputed in two matches.

First phase

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Internacional de Santa Maria	10	6	2	2	15	7	+8	20	Qualified
2	15 de Novembro	10	6	1	3	15	12	+3	19
3	Brasil de Pelotas	10	5	2	3	13	8	+5	17
4	São José de Porto Alegre	10	3	3	4	13	11	+2	12
5	São Paulo	10	3	2	5	7	12	−5	11
6	Taquariense	10	1	1	8	5	18	−13	4

Updated to match(es) played on November 4, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Passo Fundo	10	4	4	2	11	10	+1	16	Qualified
2	Glória	10	4	2	4	8	10	−2	14
3	Ypiranga de Erechim	10	3	5	2	7	7	0	14
4	São Luiz	10	3	4	3	11	10	+1	13
5	Brasil de Farroupilha	10	2	6	2	11	9	+2	12
6	Caxias	10	2	3	5	11	13	−2	9

Updated to match(es) played on November 4, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Second phase

Group 3

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	São Luiz	6	3	0	3	7	7	0	9	Qualified to Finals and 1998 Second phase
2	Brasil de Pelotas	6	2	3	1	7	6	+1	9	Qualified to 1998 Second phase
3	15 de Novembro	6	2	3	1	6	5	+1	9
4	Passo Fundo	6	1	2	3	6	8	−2	5

Updated to match(es) played on November 30, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group 4

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Glória	6	3	2	1	8	6	+2	11	Qualified to Finals and 1998 Second phase
2	Internacional de Santa Maria	6	2	2	2	10	9	+1	8	Qualified to 1998 Second phase
3	São José de Porto Alegre	6	1	5	0	5	4	+1	8
4	Ypiranga de Erechim	6	0	3	3	5	9	−4	3

Updated to match(es) played on November 30, 1997. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
São Luiz	5–1	Glória	4–0	1–1