São Paulo RS

Alcindo Martha de Freitas spent 1963 on loan at Sport Club São Paulo, on leave from Grêmio, and the club still counts the season among its reference points — a measure of how far Rio Grande once reached into the state's football. The city club, distinct from the more famous São Paulo FC of the capital, has spent most of its life below that level, and it is the local rivalry with Sport Club Rio Grande, the "Rio-Rita" derby, that has defined it more consistently than any run in the top flight.

It won the Campeonato Gaúcho in 1933, a title Rio Grande's own supporters have long set against Sport Club Rio Grande's 1936 championship in arguments over which club carries more weight in the city. Two Second Division titles followed, in 1967 and 1970, along with regional cups such as the Copa RS in 1986. Closer to home, São Paulo has been champion of Rio Grande's city tournament more often than any single date suggests, with wins stretching from 1916 to 2020.

The club reached the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1979, 1980 and 1982, then Série B the following two years — its only spell at national level, and a brief one. Since then it has settled into the third and fourth tiers of the Gaúcho championship, playing at the Estádio Aldo Dapuzzo, known to its own supporters as the "Leão do Parque." A return to Série A has not followed.