Claudio Fernando Graf (born 31 January 1976) is an Argentine

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Career

Born in a family of

Volga German The Volga Germans (german: Wolgadeutsche, ), russian: поволжские немцы, povolzhskiye nemtsy) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov a ...

origin, in the city of

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: White Bay) is a city in the southwest of the provinces of Argentina, province of Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires, Argentina, by the Atlantic Ocean, and is the seat of government of the Bahía Blanca Partido. It had 3 ...

, Graf has played for a number of clubs in Argentina including Liniers de Bahía Blanca, Banfield,

Racing Club Racing Club may refer to: Football * Racing Club Abidjan, Ivory Coast * K.R.C. Genk, Belgium * Racing Club Bafoussam, Cameroon * Racing Club Beirut, Lebanon * Racing Club de Avellaneda, Argentina * Racing Club Haïtien, Haiti * Racing Club Port ...

Quilmes Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Río de la Plata, Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the Quilmes Partido, eponymous county. With a population of 230 ...

, Independiente,

Colón de Santa Fe Colón may refer to: Places ;Argentina * Colón, Entre Ríos * Colón Department, Córdoba * Colón Department, Entre Ríos * Colón, Buenos Aires ;Colombia * Colón, Nariño * Colón, Putumayo * Colón Department (Colombia) ;Costa Rica * Ciu ...

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. ...

, and

Litex Lovech Litex ( bg, Литекс) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Lovech, which currently competes in the Second League. The club was founded in 1921 as Hisarya Sports Club. The club's home ground is the Gradski Stadion ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. During the Apertura 2004 he scored a goal with his butt for

against

Club Atlético Independiente Club Atlético Independiente () is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club, which has its headquarters and stadium in the city of Avellaneda in Greater Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its Association football, football team, wh ...

. Chacarita Juniors won 3-0 that day. With Lanús he scored a hat-trick against Rosario Central. After that game the club's fans started calling him ''San Graf'' (in English: "St. Graf"). In late 2009, he joined Ecuadorian club

LDU Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

. He was part of the squad that won the

2009 Copa Sudamericana The 2009 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2009 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) is the 8th edition of the CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. Internacional were the defending champions, having ...

. In January 2010, he joined Chilean champion

Colo Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has playe ...

, where he played the

2010 Copa Libertadores The 2010 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2010 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, CONMEBOL's premier international club tournament. The tournament began on ...

. He played with

San Martín de San Juan Club Atlético San Martín, mostly known as San Martín de San Juan, is an Argentine football club from the city of San Juan. The team currently plays in the Argentine Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system ...

until released in July 2012.

Managerial career

Retiring in 2012, Graf began his coaching career in April 2014, where he was hired as a youth coach in

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

.Claudio Graf: De vestir la del Lobo al mundo de inferiores
inferioresplatenses.com.ar, 27 March 2018 In 2016, he joined Talleres in a similar youth coach position. On 27 September 2018, Graf was appointed assistant coach of

Walter Coyette Walter Gastón Coyette (born 28 January 1976 in Avellaneda) is an Argentine ex-footballer and manager. Career Coyette started his career with Club Atlético Lanús in 1994, he made 113 appearances and scored 7 goals during his three spells with ...

San Martín de Tucumán Club Atlético San Martín (mostly known as San Martín de Tucumán) is an Argentine sports club founded in 1909 and based in the city of San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán Province. The club is notable for its football team, which currently plays i ...

. They left the club in February 2019. In September 2019, Graf was once again appointed assistant coach Coyette, this time at Chilean club

Unión La Calera Unión La Calera is a Chilean football club based in La Calera and competes the Primera División de Chile. It was founded as Club de Deportes La Calera on 26 January 1954, after the merger of three teams from the city: ''Condor'', ''Calera Come ...

. They only lasted until the end of 2019. In June 2020, Graf followed

to Alvarado, once again as an assistant coach.Walter Coyette es el nuevo entrenador de Alvarado
quedigital.com.ar, 25 June 2020

Honors

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graf, Claudio 1976 births Living people Footballers from Bahía Blanca Argentine people of Volga German descent Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Club Atlético Banfield footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Quilmes Atlético Club footballers Club Atlético Independiente footballers PFC Litex Lovech players Club Atlético Colón footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers Colo-Colo footballers Sakaryaspor footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers Tecos F.C. footballers Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Copa Sudamericana-winning players San Martín de San Juan footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Ecuador Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Süper Lig players Chilean Primera División players Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Argentine football managers Club Atlético Independiente managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile