2000 Campeonato Gaúcho

Campeonato Gaúcho
Season	2000
Champions	Caxias
Relegated	Avenida; Inter de Santa Maria
Copa do Brasil	Grêmio; Internacional; Juventude; Caxias
Série C	Inter de Santa Maria
Copa Sul-Minas	Internacional; Grêmio; Caxias
Matches played	142
Goals scored	409 (2.88 per match)
Top goalscorer	Felipe (Passo Fundo) – 13 goals
Biggest home win	Guarani-VA 5-1 Passo Fundo (January 25, 2000); 15 de Novembro 4-0 São Luiz (January 30, 2000); Santa Cruz 5-1 15 de Novembro (February 27, 2000); São Luiz 5-1 Avenida (February 27, 2000); Guarani-VA 4-0 São Luiz (March 12, 2000); Caxias 4-0 Passo Fundo (April 2, 2000); Juventude 4-0 Passo Fundo (April 26, 2000); Juventude 5-1 Santa Cruz (May 10, 2000)
Biggest away win	Pelotas 0-3 Caxias (February 17, 2000); Veranópolis 2-5 Rio Grande (February 20, 2000); 15 de Novembro 0-3 Internacional (May 10, 2000)
Highest scoring	Grêmio 4-4 Esportivo (May 10, 2000)
	← 1999 2001 →

The 80th season of the Campeonato Gaúcho kicked off on January 23, 2000 and ended on June 18, 2000. Seventeen teams participated. Caxias beat Grêmio in the finals and won their 1st title. Avenida and Internacional de Santa Maria were relegated.^[1]^[2]

Participating teams

Club	Home location	Previous season
15 de Novembro	Campo Bom	2nd (Second level)
Avenida	Santa Cruz do Sul	8th
Caxias	Caxias do Sul	5th
Esportivo	Bento Gonçalves	1st (Second level)
Grêmio	Porto Alegre	1st
Guarani	Venâncio Aires	11th
Internacional	Porto Alegre	2nd
Internacional	Santa Maria	9th
Juventude	Caxias do Sul	4th
Passo Fundo	Passo Fundo	13th
Pelotas	Pelotas	14th
Rio Grande	Rio Grande	4th (Second level)
São José	Porto Alegre	7th
São Luiz	Ijuí	12th
Santa Cruz	Santa Cruz do Sul	6th
Santo Ângelo	Santo Ângelo	10th
Veranópolis	Veranópolis	3rd

System

The championship would have three stages:^[2]^[1]

First phase: The thirteen teams that didn't participate in the Copa Sul-Minas were joined by Rio Grande, which had been invited in celebration of its 100th anniversary, and were divided in two groups of seven teams. the teams in each group played against each other in a double round-robin system. After 14 rounds, the two best teams in each group qualified, along with the best non-qualified team, while the team with the fewest points in each group was relegated, to dispute the Second level in the same year. Rio Grande, as a guest, would be relegated after that year regardless of placing.
Second phase: The five remaining teams joined the teams that participated in the Copa Sul-Minas (Internacional, Grêmio and Juventude), and played against each other twice, with the winners of each half qualifying to the Finals. The three best teams qualified to the next year's Copa Sul-Minas.
Finals: The Second phase round winners played in two matches to define the Champions.

Championship

First phase

Group 1

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Esportivo	12	7	5	0	18	7	+11	26	Qualified
2	Caxias	12	5	3	4	19	15	+4	18	Qualified
3	São José de Porto Alegre	12	4	6	2	15	11	+4	18
4	Veranópolis	12	4	5	3	19	21	−2	17
5	Rio Grande (G)	12	3	3	6	15	19	−4	12
6	Pelotas	12	2	4	6	10	15	−5	10
7	Internacional de Santa Maria	12	1	6	5	6	14	−8	9	Relegated

Updated to match(es) played on March 26, 2000. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.
(G) Guests

Group 2

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	15 de Novembro	12	7	1	4	24	19	+5	22	Qualified
2	Passo Fundo	12	6	4	2	21	21	0	22
3	Santa Cruz	12	6	3	3	21	16	+5	21
4	Guarani de Venâncio Aires	12	6	2	4	27	18	+9	20
5	Santo Ângelo	12	5	3	4	23	19	+4	18
6	São Luiz	12	2	3	7	16	30	−14	9
7	Avenida	12	1	2	9	14	24	−10	5	Relegated

Updated to match(es) played on March 26, 2000. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Second phase

First round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Caxias	7	5	1	1	13	6	+7	16	Qualified to Finals
2	Juventude	7	3	3	1	13	8	+5	12
3	Internacional	7	3	3	1	14	10	+4	12
4	Grêmio	7	3	3	1	10	6	+4	12
5	15 de Novembro	7	2	3	2	8	8	0	9
6	Santa Cruz	7	2	1	4	9	11	−2	7
7	Esportivo	7	1	2	4	6	9	−3	5
8	Passo Fundo	7	0	2	5	5	20	−15	2

Updated to match(es) played on May 7, 2000. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Second round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Grêmio	7	6	1	0	15	6	+9	19	Qualified to Finals
2	Internacional	7	6	0	1	16	4	+12	18
3	Juventude	7	3	1	3	12	11	+1	10
4	15 de Novembro	7	2	3	2	7	8	−1	9
5	Caxias	7	2	2	3	7	7	0	8
6	Passo Fundo	7	2	1	4	8	12	−4	7
7	Esportivo	7	1	2	4	8	15	−7	5
8	Santa Cruz	7	0	2	5	7	16	−9	2

Updated to match(es) played on June 11, 2000. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Final standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Grêmio	14	9	4	1	25	12	+13	31	Qualified to Copa Sul-Minas
2	Internacional	14	9	3	2	30	14	+16	30
3	Caxias	14	7	3	4	20	13	+7	24
4	Juventude	14	6	4	4	25	19	+6	22
5	15 de Novembro	14	4	6	4	15	16	−1	18
6	Esportivo	14	2	4	8	14	24	−10	10
7	Santa Cruz	14	2	3	9	16	27	−11	9
8	Passo Fundo	14	2	3	9	13	32	−19	9

Updated to match(es) played on June 11, 2000. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.