Gremio Football Porto-Alegrense was founded on 15 September 1903 in a Porto Alegre restaurant. Twenty people were present that day, including Candido Dias, Guilherme Kaelfels and the club's first chairman, Carlos Luiz Bohrer. All were descendents of Portuguese and German immigrants living in Porto Alegre, the capital of the Rio Grande Do Sul province, located 150 km from the border with Uruguay.