Renato Gaúcho · Biography

In 1980, just after turning 17, Renato Portaluppi left Esportivo for Grêmio, the club where he would win the Copa Libertadores as a player and, more than three decades later, as a coach. He was born on 9 September 1962 in Guaporé, in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. He played as a right winger and is known in Brazilian football as Renato Gaúcho. After retiring he began a long coaching career, mostly tied to the Porto Alegre club.

Grêmio, world champions in 1983

Renato played for Grêmio from 1980 to 1986, making 243 appearances and scoring 71 goals. With them he won the 1981 Brazilian championship, the 1983 Copa Libertadores and the state championship of Rio Grande do Sul in 1985 and 1986. His best-remembered game was the 1983 Intercontinental Cup final in Tokyo against Hamburg: he scored both goals in the 2-1 win that gave Grêmio their first world title.

Flamengo, Roma and a decade on the move

He joined Flamengo in 1987, winning the Copa União that year and the Taça Guanabara in 1988. He spent the 1988-89 season in Italy with Roma, then returned to Flamengo and won the 1990 Copa do Brasil. He spent the following decade changing clubs. He played for Botafogo in 1991 and 1992, with a loan spell at Grêmio in 1991, and in 1992 won the Supercopa Sudamericana and the Minas Gerais state title with Cruzeiro. Spells at Flamengo (1993), Atlético Mineiro (1994) and Grêmio again (1995) followed. He won the 1995 Rio state title with Fluminense, went back to Flamengo in 1997 and retired at Bangu in 1999.

The Brazil national team

Renato played for Brazil between 1983 and 1993, winning 44 caps and scoring 5 goals. He was part of the squad that won the 1989 Copa América. At the 1990 World Cup in Italy he was a substitute and only played in the round of 16 against Argentina, who knocked Brazil out with a 1-0 win.

First steps in management

He began coaching at Madureira in 2000-2001 and managed Fluminense in 2002 and 2003. From 2005 to 2007 he was at Vasco da Gama. Back at Fluminense, he won the 2007 Copa do Brasil, his first major title as a coach. He then had another spell at Vasco in 2008, coached Bahia in 2010 and Atlético Paranaense in 2011, and had short stints at Fluminense in 2009 and 2014. In between came his first two spells in charge of Grêmio, in 2010-2011 and in 2013.

The 2017 Libertadores

His third spell at Grêmio, which began in 2016, was his longest. He won the Copa do Brasil against Atlético Mineiro that year, and in 2017 lifted the Copa Libertadores after winning both legs of the final against Lanús, 1-0 and 2-1. He was the first Brazilian to win the Libertadores as both a player and a coach. On 16 December 2017 in Abu Dhabi, Grêmio lost the Club World Cup final 1-0 to Real Madrid, who scored from a free kick. He won the Recopa Sudamericana in 2018 and the Rio Grande do Sul state title in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He left the club in 2021 and coached Flamengo that year; they lost the Libertadores final to Palmeiras and he was sacked the next day.

Returns to Porto Alegre and the 2025-2026 spells

He returned to Grêmio in 2022, with the team in the second tier, and took them back to the top flight. In 2023 they finished second in the Brasileirão with 68 points, two behind Palmeiras, and he won the state title in 2023 and 2024 before leaving in December 2024. Fluminense hired him on 3 April 2025, and under him they reached the semi-finals of the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States, where they lost 2-0 to Chelsea. He resigned on 24 September 2025 after elimination from the Copa Sudamericana. He coached Vasco da Gama from 3 March to 18 June 2026, and on 14 September 2026 Grêmio announced him as head coach for his fifth spell at the club.