Gremio

On 7 September 1903, Brazil's oldest football team, Sport Club Rio Grande, played an exhibition match in Porto Alegre. An entrepreneur from Sorocaba, São Paulo, named Cândido Dias was besotted with the sport and he went to watch the match. During the match, the ball deflated. As the only owner of a football in Porto Alegre, he lent his ball to the players and the match resumed. After the match, he talked to the local players about how to start a football club. On 15 September 1903, 32 people, including Cândido Dias, met at Salão Grau, a local restaurant and founded "Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense". Most of the founding members were part of the city's German community. Carlos Luiz Bohrer was elected as first president.

The club's first match took place on 6 March 1904, against Fuss Ball Porto Alegre, the first of two matches played that day. Grêmio won the first match 1–0. Unfortunately, the name of the player who scored the club's first goal is lost to history. The trophy Grêmio won that day, the Wanderpreis, is still displayed at the club's museum. Within 5 months the club had inaugurated the Baixada, its first home.

On 18 July 1909, Grêmio beat Internacional 10–0 on the latter's debut game. Grêmio's goalkeeper Kallfelz reportedly left the field to chat with fans during the match. Even now this victory is remembered with pride by Gremistas (Grêmio supporters). The match was the starting point for a rivalry that rages on to this day. Grêmio was one of the founding members of the Porto Alegre football league in 1910, and in 1911 won the league for the first time. On 25 August 1912, in a city league match, Grêmio beat Sport Clube Nacional of Porto Alegre 23–0. Sisson scored 14 goals in the match to record Grêmio's biggest ever win. In 1918, Grêmio became a founding member of the Fundação Rio-Grandense de Desportes (later known as Federação Gaúcha de Futebol), a federation that organized the first state championships in Rio Grande do Sul. The first championship was scheduled for 1918, but the Spanish flu epidemic forced the event to be postponed until 1919. In 1921, a year after the arrival of legendary goalkeeper Eurico Lara, Grêmio won its first state championship.

On 7 July 1911, Grêmio beat Uruguay's national team 2–1. In 1931, Grêmio became one of the first teams in Brazil to play matches at night after installing floodlights at Estádio Baixada. On 19 May 1935, Grêmio became the first team from Rio Grande do Sul to beat a team from the state of São Paulo (considered the strongest Brazilian league at the time) by defeating Santos 3–2. Grêmio was also the first club outside Rio de Janeiro state to play at the Maracanã Stadium, defeating Flamengo 3–1 in 1950.

During this period, Grêmio started to earn a reputation abroad. In 1932 it played its first international match in Rivera (Uruguay). In 1949, the match against Uruguay's Nacional ended in a 3–1 win for Grêmio and the players received a hero's welcome on their return to Porto Alegre. In that same year, Grêmio played for the first time in Central America. Between 1953 and 1954, Grêmio travelled to Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia, a tour dubbed "the conquest of the Americas". On 25 February 1959, Grêmio defeated Boca Juniors 4–1 in Buenos Aires, becoming the first foreign team to beat Boca at La Bombonera.

In 1961, Grêmio went on its first European tour playing 24 games in 11 countries: France, Romania, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Denmark, Estonia and Russia. The Gremistas (Grêmio fans) were growing in number. 1946 saw the first appearance of the club's motto "com o Grêmio onde o Grêmio estiver" ("with Grêmio wherever Grêmio may be"), which was later written into Grêmio's official anthem. An anthem penned by Lupicinio Rodrigues, a samba-cancao composer who became one of the most famous and revered Grêmio fans. The anthem celebrates the Gremistas reputation for attending all Grêmio matches, regardless of the difficulties and obstacles they might have to overcome to see their club. In the late 1950s, Grêmio joined the Taça Brasil, as the Brazilian league was known at the time. The team reached the Taça Brasil semi-finals in 1959, 1963 and 1967. In 1968, the team won its first international title in a friendly cup with teams from Brazil and Uruguay. In 1954, Grêmio inaugurated what was at the time the biggest private stadium in Brazil, the Olímpico Stadium. In 1971, the Taça Brasil championship was replaced by the Campeonato Brasileiro with the first goal ever scored in the Campeonato Brasileiro coming from Grêmio's Néstor Scotta, an Argentine, in a match against São Paulo at Estádio do Morumbi. Grêmio maintained a series of respectable results in Campeonato Brasileiro, usually achieving a top half finish.

Grêmio's first dominant period in South American football began in the early 1980s. Propelled by the completion of their new stadium, the Olímpico Monumental.

Grêmio won its first Campeonato Brasileiro on 3 May 1981, after defeating São Paulo at the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo. The scores in the two-leg final were 2–1 at Olímpico and 1–0 for Grêmio at Morumbi. The winning goal was scored by striker Baltazar. Earlier, on 26 April 1981 Olímpico had its biggest attendance ever, when 98,421 fans watched Grêmio lose to Ponte Preta 0–1 in the Campeonato Brasileiro semi-final.

1983 was the most successful year in Grêmio's history. First, Grêmio won the South-American Copa Libertadores, after a consistent yet eventful campaign. One of the matches of the semi-final, the 3–3 draw against Estudiantes at Jorge Luis Hirschi Stadium, became legendary for its belligerence on and off the pitch and is dubbed the "Batalha de La Plata" ("Battle of La Plata"). In the finals, Grêmio beat the 1982 South America and World champions Peñarol from Uruguay, with a 1–1 draw in Montevideo and a 2–1 win in Porto Alegre. The winning goal was scored by César just before the end of the match. A year later, Grêmio was runner-up in the Copa Libertadores final, being defeated by Argentina's Independiente.

Also in 1983, Grêmio won the Intercontinental Cup after defeating Hamburger SV of Germany 2–1. Renato Portaluppi scored both goals. With Uruguayan defender De León and goalkeeper Mazaropi also earning club legend status on the back of their performances in the Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cup. Porto Alegre, was deafened by the gremista's chant of: "The Earth is Blue". Soon after winning the Intercontinental Cup, Grêmio beat America of Mexico in Los Angeles, and won the Los Angeles Cup.

In 1989, Grêmio won the first Copa do Brasil, a Brazilian knockout cup featuring football teams from all around the country. After humiliating Flamengo with a 6–1 win in the second leg of the semi-finals, Grêmio defeated Sport Recife in the final, with a 0–0 draw in Recife and a 2–1 win in Porto Alegre.

In 1991, after a poor season, Grêmio was relegated for the first time to the Brazilian Second Division but gained immediate promotion back to the Campeonato Brasileiro's elite the following season (1993). After this return to form, 1994 saw Grêmio win its second Copa do Brasil, defeating Ceará in the two-leg final (0–0 and 1–0), the solitary goal scored by striker Nildo. This win kickstarted the club's Tokyo Project.

On 11 December 1994, due a bloated and extensive schedule, Grêmio had to play three matches in a single day at the Olímpico Monumental during the 1994 Campeonato Gaúcho. These matches began at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 8 p.m. against Aimoré, Santa Cruz, and Brasil de Pelotas respectively. They drew the first match and won the other two, using a total of 34 different players from the first team, reserves and academy. The matches had a small public attendance of 758 fans — 247 paying. The matches were also played in temperatures of 45 °C (113 °F) in the summer heat of Porto Alegre.

In May 1995, under head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Grêmio were runners-up in the Copa do Brasil, losing the final match to Corinthians 0–1 at Olímpico Monumental. In August, a few days after beating arch-rivals Internacional for the state title with a reserve squad, the club won the Copa Libertadores for the second time. Defeating Atlético Nacional of Colombia 3–1 in Porto Alegre and drawing 1–1 in Medellín. The tournament was marked by fierce matches against Palmeiras in the quarter-finals. Palmeiras had perhaps the best squad on the competition, with players such as Rivaldo, Cafu, Edmundo, César Sampaio, Antônio Carlos, Roberto Carlos and Mancuso. They were soundly beaten by Grêmio in the 1st leg in an epic 5–0 match with a hat-trick from Mário Jardel. Palmeiras beat Grêmio 5–1 in the return leg, with Jardel's lone strike proving enough to see Grêmio through to the Semi-finals.

This qualified the club to the 1995 Intercontinental Cup where Grêmio pushed a talented Ajax (featuring Patrick Kluivert, Overmars, Van Der Sar and Kanu) into extra time and penalties despite being a player down. Early 1996 saw Grêmio win the Recopa Sudamericana, beating Argentina's Independiente 4–1.

On 15 December 1996, Grêmio won its second Campeonato Brasileiro, defeating Portuguesa in the final. Portuguesa won the first match at home 2–0, and therefore Grêmio was forced to win the final match at Porto Alegre by the same score or more. Grêmio got to 2–0, with midfielder Ailton scoring the second goal a few minutes before the final whistle. Grêmio won the title due to their higher finish in the league.

In 1997, Grêmio won their third Copa do Brasil title. In the finals against Romário's Flamengo, Grêmio won on away goals after a 0–0 draw in Porto Alegre and a 2–2 draw in Rio de Janeiro. Four years later, in 2001, Grêmio won their fourth Copa do Brasil, defeating Corinthians. The first leg of the final, in Porto Alegre, finished with the score of 2–2. The second game in São Paulo ended with a 3–1 Grêmio victory, in a match which is regarded as one of the finest in Grêmio's history.

On 2000, Grêmio closed a multi-million deal with Swiss sports marketing firm International Sport and Leisure (ISL). With the newfound income, Grêmio made large investments and expensive hirings, such as Zinho, Paulo Nunes, Gabriel Amato and Leonardo Astrada. However, soon in 2001 ISL went bust after a large corruption scandal involving FIFA. After declaring bankruptcy, the company transferred part its debt to Grêmio. The club's quickly amassed debt would spiral out of control, soon they would be unable to pay player's salaries and do other investments, which resulted in poor field performance.

In 2004, after performing poorly for two consecutive seasons in the Série A, Grêmio finished bottom of the league and were relegated to Campeonato Brasileiro's Second Division. Série B brought even less revenue, which combined with the club's large debt threatented to snowball into Grêmio's bankruptcy. Grêmio's promotion battle was difficult, with only two clubs able to qualify for promotion to the First Division. On 26 November 2005, at Estádio dos Aflitos, Recife against Náutico, Grêmio had four players sent off and two penalty given kicks against them in a tumultuous match that has become known as "The Battle of the Aflitos" ("A Batalha dos Aflitos", "Aflitos" being the name of Náutico's home field).

Bruno Carvalho bounced the first penalty bounced off the post in the first half when Grêmio still had 11 players on the field; the second was saved by goalkeeper Galatto when had been reduced to 7 men. Within 72 seconds of Galatto saving the penalty 17-year-old Anderson had made a run down the left flank to slot the ball into the back of the net to score Grêmio's winning goal. A goal that sealed the Série B championship and promotion to the Série A.

On 9 April 2006, at Estádio Beira-Rio, Grêmio won the state championship against Internacional, preventing them from winning a fifth title in a row. Playing away, Grêmio managed to obtain a 1–1 draw in the second leg of the final, enough to secure the title on away goals. Grêmio players said after the match that there were more than 50,000 Internacional fans in Beira Rio's Stadium and they could still hear the noise made by 6,000 Gremistas. In 2007, at Estádio Olímpico Monumental, Grêmio won the Campeonato Gaúcho once again this time against Juventude.

Also in 2007, Grêmio reached the final of the 2007 Copa Libertadores. Throughout the campaign the team overcame away losses by putting in heroic home performances and earning the moniker of Imortal Tricolor. This also pumped up the fans who even after a heavy 3–0 away defeat to Boca Juniors formed huge lines to buy tickets for the final game in Porto Alegre. with some of the fans queuing for four days or more. Unfortunately fan fervor wasn't enough with Riquelme's magnificent performance handing Boca Juniors a 2–0 win and the Copa Libertadores title.

In 2008, after the sudden firing of their head coach Vagner Mancini, the club hired Celso Roth. Within a month they had prematurely dropped out of both the domestic cup (Copa do Brasil) and their state championship (Campeonato Gaúcho). This led to the team going through a state of crisis and, soon after, major renovation. They were expected to finish in the bottom half of the Campeonato Brasileiro but managed to finish in second place. For many supporters, even that was considered a failure as in the first half of the championship, the team was in fine form and even considered the best in the country. At the halfway point of the season the team had a 10-point lead over second place that they would eventually surrender in the final games of the season.

2012 marked the last year of the club's former stadium, Olímpico Monumental. Fan expectations were high but were not matched by the team's performance. Grêmio did, however, qualify for the Libertadores the following year.

In 2014, the club once again qualified for the Copa Libertadores de América and signed Enderson Moreira as the new manager. However, after a successful campaign in the group stage, Grêmio failed in the competition and were eliminated by San Lorenzo in the Round of 16. A few days before, the club was defeated 6–2 on aggregate by their biggest rival, the Internacional, in the finals of the Campeonato Gaúcho. With nothing more than a regular campaign at the beginning of the Série A, club president Fábio Koff signed Luiz Felipe Scolari as the new coach of the team. The club also invested in Giuliano, the biggest hiring of the year.

In 2015, former Grêmio player Roger Machado was hired as the new manager. A short lived but initially successful run, Machado's time with Grêmio saw them qualify for the 2016 Copa Libertadores with a finish in the Campeonato Brasileiro in 3rd place. Machado oversaw a famous victory over beat bitter rivals Internacional with a 5–0 drubbing in "Grenal" No. 407. Nonetheless, towards the end of the year, the team began to show a lack of organization, especially in its defensive system. As fan support dwindled, Roger announced his resignation after a 3–0 loss against Ponte Preta in September 2016. Renato Portaluppi replaced him and under his guidance a resurgent Grêmio became champions of the Copa do Brasil against Atlético Mineiro in a 4–2 aggregate score, making them the Brazilian club with the most titles in this tournament (5). After this historic feat, fans affectionately nicknamed Grêmio the "Rei de Copas" (King of Cups).

In 2017, Grêmio won their third Libertadores, after defeating Club Atlético Lanús 1–0 at Arena do Grêmio, followed by a 2–1 victory in Estadio Ciudad de Lanús. Luan was named the player of the tournament, while goalkeeper Marcelo Grohe performed spectacularly with a heroic, almost impossible save in the semi-final match against Barcelona Sporting Club. They became the third Brazilian club to win a third Copa Libertadores, after São Paulo and Santos.

The club went on to represent CONMEBOL at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup, held in the United Arab Emirates. Grêmio beat Pachuca 1–0 in a tight semi-final, the goal coming from Everton in extra-time. They were beaten 0–1 by Real Madrid in the final.

Grêmio once again finished 4th in the 2018 Campeonato Brasileiro securing a place in the Copa Libertadores de América having been knocked out in the semi-final of the tournament on goal-difference in 2018 by a late River Plate goal to end the match 2–2. The goal was scored from a penalty, given on review of a handball by the VAR from Matheus Bressan in the 95th minute. Bressan was subsequently transferred. In the hours following the match it was revealed that River Plate manager Marcelo Gallardo had broken the rules of his touchline ban at half-time by entering the River dressing room. Grêmio appealed the result within 24 hours of the final whistle based on this information. It took CONMEBOL 2 days to deliberate, deciding that the result should stand, with Gallardo receiving a $50,000 fine and a 4-match suspension (1 from the Bombonera Stadium for the first leg of the Libertadores final against Boca Juniors and 3 subsequent touchline bans). River Plate would go on to win the Copa Libertadores de América after further controversy.

In the 2020 season Grêmio met their rivals Internacional at Copa Libertadores for the first time in history. The first leg at the Arena do Grêmio ended in controversy as a fight broke out between Grêmio's Pepê and Inter's Moisés which quickly escalated into a full-brawl between the two teams and eight players — three of each team in the field and more two from the bench — were sent off. The match ended on a tie.

The 2020 saw a decline on the performance of the team, while they were able to secure the Campeonato Gaúcho, they finished in 6th in the Brasileirão which didn't guarantee their berth to the Libertadores for the first time since 2013, having to play at the qualifying stages. The team later fail to qualify to the 2021 Copa Libertadores after losing to Ecuador's Independiente del Valle. The defeat ended up causing the resignation of Renato Portaluppi, who had worked at the club for almost five years.

In 2021, Grêmio was elected the best club in South America of the decade, between the years 2011–2020, in a survey carried out by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The ranking took into account the points scored by clubs in the organization's Club World Ranking each year.

Portaluppi's replacement was Tiago Nunes, with whom Grêmio qualified for the next phase of the Copa Sudamericana and won the Campeonato Gaúcho in the final played against Internacional. However, the COVID-19 pandemic caused various infections among the squad, which combined with a series of expensive yet supbar hirings, lack organization at the football department (previously heavily depedent on Renato Portaluppi's decisions), as well as other factors resulted in a weak performance at the 2021 Campeonato Brasileiro, getting just two points from seven games and dropping to bottom of the league table. Nunes was fired and replaced with Luiz Felipe Scolari, in turn, also failed to lead the club out of the relegation zone and ended up leaving by mutual agreement after three months of work. Vagner Mancini, then America Mineiro coach, was hired for his place in October. Without achieving results, Grêmio finished the championship relegated for the third time to the Campeonato Brasileiro Série B.

After a weak start in the 2022 Campeonato Gaúcho, Mancini was fired and replaced with Roger Machado, who led to the team to a fifth Gauchão title in sequence after a victory against rival's Internacional in the semi-finals and the finals against Ypiranga. In September Machado was replaced by a returning Renato Portaluppi. The Série B campaign was enough to guarantee access to return to the Série A in 2023.

In December 2022, Grêmio announced that Luis Suárez would be joining the club for a two-year contract. The signing drew worldwide attention to the club. Suárez made his debut on 17 January 2023 in a match against São Luiz for the 2023 Recopa Gaúcha. Suárez scored a hat-trick in a 4–1 win. With him on the squad, Grêmio was able to conquer the 2023 Campeonato Gaúcho, the sixth in row. In July, citing knee injuries and pain, Suárez later shortened his contract to only one year with the club. With Suárez, Grêmio achieved 2nd place in the 2023 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, qualifying the team for a spot on the 2024 Copa Libertadores.

In 2024, Grêmio won 2024 Campeonato Gaúcho for the seventh time in a row, with Renato Gaúcho as a manager.