The 59th season of the Campeonato Gaúcho kicked off on March 7, 1979, and ended on December 16, 1979. Twenty teams participated. Grêmio won their 21st title. 14 de Julho de Passo Fundo and Cachoeira were relegated.^[1][2]

Participating teams

System

The championship would have four stages.:^[2][1]

• First phase: The twenty clubs played each other in a double round-robin system. The eight best teams qualified to the Final phase, with the best teams in each round and the team with the best overall record earning one bonus point. the other teams in the sum of both rounds would dispute the Torneio de Descenso.
• Torneio de Descenso: The twelve teams would be divided into two groups of six teams, in which each team played the teams if its own group in a double round-robin system. The team with the fewest points in each group would qualify to the Torneio da Morte.
• Torneio da Morte: Played in two-legged knockout ties. In the Semifinals, the two teams from the Torneio de Descenso would play each other, with the loser being relegated, and in the Finals, the winner of the Semifinals would play against the runners-up of the Second level, with the winner qualifying to the First level.
• Final phase: The eight remaining teams played each other in a double round-robin system; the team with the most points won the title.

Championship

First phase

First round

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Grêmio	19	15	3	1	44	6	+38	33	Qualified;One extra point
2	Internacional	19	14	4	1	48	7	+41	32
3	Juventude	19	11	6	2	31	12	+19	28
4	Caxias	19	10	6	3	30	15	+15	26
5	Esportivo	19	9	8	2	32	18	+14	26
6	Novo Hamburgo	19	10	5	4	23	18	+5	25
7	Brasil de Pelotas	19	9	6	4	17	11	+6	24
8	14 de Julho	19	8	4	7	21	12	+9	20
9	Internacional de Santa Maria	19	6	7	6	16	16	0	19
10	São Paulo	19	6	5	8	19	18	+1	17
11	Gaúcho	19	4	9	6	17	22	−5	17
12	São Borja	19	6	4	9	15	20	−5	16
13	Grêmio Bagé	19	6	2	11	16	31	−15	14
14	Estrela	19	3	8	8	10	21	−11	14
15	Guarany de Bagé	19	4	5	10	14	28	−14	13
16	Pelotas	19	3	7	9	14	27	−13	13
17	Farroupilha	19	3	7	9	20	35	−15	13
18	Cachoeira	19	4	3	12	9	37	−28	11
19	Avenida	19	3	4	12	17	38	−21	10
20	Riograndense	19	3	3	13	15	36	−21	9

Updated to match(es) played on May 13, 1979. 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	19	16	3	0	37	6	+31	35	Qualified;One extra point
2	Internacional	19	13	5	1	40	5	+35	31
3	São Paulo	19	10	7	2	24	9	+15	27
4	Gaúcho	19	10	6	3	21	12	+9	26
5	Internacional de Santa Maria	19	9	6	4	19	7	+12	24
6	Esportivo	19	8	7	4	15	11	+4	23
7	Caxias	19	8	6	5	20	13	+7	22
8	Juventude	19	7	7	5	21	15	+6	21
9	Brasil de Pelotas	19	6	8	5	18	17	+1	20
10	Pelotas	19	6	8	5	17	16	+1	20
11	Farroupilha	19	6	8	5	18	21	−3	20
12	14 de Julho	19	6	6	7	19	21	−2	18
13	Novo Hamburgo	19	5	8	6	15	20	−5	18
14	São Borja	19	4	5	10	13	27	−14	13
15	Grêmio Bagé	19	3	7	9	4	12	−8	13
16	Riograndense	19	5	2	12	16	38	−22	12
17	Estrela	19	3	6	10	10	19	−9	12
18	Guarany de Bagé	19	4	2	13	12	19	−7	10
19	Avenida	19	4	2	13	18	41	−23	10
20	Cachoeira	19	1	3	15	10	38	−28	5

Updated to match(es) played on July 25, 1979. 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	38	31	6	1	81	12	+69	68	Qualified
2	Internacional	38	27	9	2	88	12	+76	63
3	Juventude	38	18	13	7	52	27	+25	49
4	Esportivo	38	17	15	6	47	29	+18	49
5	Caxias	38	18	12	8	50	28	+22	48
6	São Paulo	38	16	12	10	43	27	+16	44
7	Brasil de Pelotas	38	15	14	9	35	28	+7	44
8	Novo Hamburgo	38	15	13	10	38	38	0	43
9	Internacional de Santa Maria	38	15	13	10	35	23	+12	43	Relegation Tournament
10	Gaúcho	38	14	15	9	38	34	+4	43
11	14 de Julho	38	14	10	14	40	33	+7	38
12	Pelotas	38	9	15	14	31	43	−12	33
13	Farroupilha	38	9	15	14	38	56	−18	33
14	São Borja	38	10	9	19	28	47	−19	29
15	Grêmio Bagé	38	9	9	20	20	43	−23	27
16	Estrela	38	6	14	18	20	40	−20	26
17	Guarany de Bagé	38	8	7	23	26	47	−21	23
18	Riograndense	38	8	5	25	31	74	−43	21
19	Avenida	38	7	6	25	35	79	−44	20
20	Cachoeira	38	5	6	27	19	75	−56	16

Updated to match(es) played on July 25, 1979. Source: RSSSF.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Extra point playoff

25 July 1979

Juventude	1–0	Esportivo
Cacau

Alfredo Jaconi, Caxias do Sul

Torneio de Descenso

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Pelotas	10	7	2	1	14	6	+8	16
2	Grêmio Bagé	10	5	3	2	9	6	+3	13
3	Internacional de Santa Maria	10	3	3	4	9	9	0	9
4	Farroupilha	10	3	3	4	6	8	−2	9
5	Guarany de Bagé	10	2	4	4	9	8	+1	8
6	Cachoeira	10	2	1	7	7	17	−10	5	Relegation Playoffs

Updated to match(es) played on October 14, 1979. Source: sumulas-tche.blogspot.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	São Borja	10	5	5	0	12	5	+7	15
2	Gaúcho	10	5	4	1	15	9	+6	14
3	Riograndense	10	3	4	3	11	10	+1	10
4	Estrela	10	2	5	3	9	8	+1	9
5	Avenida	10	2	4	4	10	13	−3	8
6	14 de Julho	10	2	0	8	3	15	−12	4	Relegation Playoffs

Updated to match(es) played on October 14, 1979. Source: sumulas-tche.blogspot.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) wins; 3) goal difference; 4) number of goals scored.

Torneio da Morte

	Semi-finals						Final
	Cachoeira	1	2	3
	14 de Julho de Passo Fundo	0	0	0
							14 de Julho de Santana do Livramento (e)	2	1	3
							Cachoeira	0	1	1

Key: * = Play-off winners, (a) = Wins because of away goals rule, (e) = Wins after extra time in second leg, (p) = Wins after penalty shoot-out.

Semifinals

21 October 1979

Cachoeira	1–0	14 de Julho de Passo Fundo
Neves 40'

Joaquim Vidal, Cachoeira do Sul

Referee: José Mocellin

25 October 1979

14 de Julho de Passo Fundo	0–2	Cachoeira
		Paulo Afonso 50' Idelmiro 60'

Vermelhão da Serra, Passo Fundo

Referee: Leonel Antônio Pandolfo

Cachoeira advances; 14 de Julho de Passo Fundo relegated

Finals

9 December 1979

14 de Julho de Santana do Livramento	2–0	Cachoeira
Leopoldo 44', 77'

João Martins, Santana do Livramento

Referee: Ruy Silva Cañedo

16 December 1979

Cachoeira	1–1 (a.e.t.)	14 de Julho de Santana do Livramento
Badeco 70'		Tourinho 98'

Joaquim Vidal, Cachoeira do Sul

Referee: Zeno Escobar Barbosa

14 de Julho de Santana do Livramento promoted; Cachoeira relegated

References