The brothers Henrique, José and Luis Poppe were responsible for founding the Sport Club International.

The greatest difficulty encountered by the Poppes, when transferred from Sao Paulo to Porto Alegre in 1901, was to not find a club to the democratic practice of football. At the time there were only two clubs in the city (the Fussball and the Grêmio Porto Alegrense), private for those who had German ancestry. In 1909 the Poppe convened a group of students and ordinary employees from Porto Alegre and trading to a meeting, scheduled for the day April 4, 1909, at number 141 in Redenção Avenue (now Avenue João Pessoa, 1025), with the clear objective of founding a new football club. Thus began the history of Sport Club Internacional.

More than 40 people also voted to select the name of the club, established in honor of Sport Club Internacional (from São Paulo). Since then the clubs were usually identified with colonies of immigrants from certain ethnic or nationality (such as Sao Paulo Palestra Italy, for Italians, the Vasco da Gama, for Portuguese immigrants etc.), The name "International" was scope to identify a club where "all" could play, regardless of origin, race or social status. Emerged as a club genuinely democratic and without any kind of discrimination.

Henrique Poppe, one of the founders