The 1968 Campeonato Gaúcho was the 48th season of Rio Grande do Sul's top association football league. Grêmio won their 19th title. The league expanded to eighteen teams: the twelve clubs from last season were joined by six teams from last year's Promotion Tournament.[1][2] It is unknown how these six teams were chosen: Ypiranga, São Paulo, Santa Cruz and São José were among the championship's top six teams, but Cruzeiro and Flamengo were eliminated in the first stage.[3]
Format
The championship's format changed for the first time since 1961 due to its expansion, not without controversy. The league was divided in three stages, as follows:
Preliminary stage: clubs were divided in two groups of nine teams each, playing a single round-robin against same group teams. The bottom two advanced to the relegation tournament while the top seven clubs played another single round-robin against each other maintaining their previous results.
Relegation tournament: the four clubs faced each other in a double-robin where the bottom two were relegated.
Octagonal: each group's top four faced each other in a double round-robin, where the best club was crowned champions.