Uruguay Gustavo Graffigna Banhoffer, also known as Uri Banhoffer or Yuri Banhoffer (14 January 1948 – 12 March 2021) was a Uruguayan

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for clubs in Uruguay, Chile, the Netherlands and the United States. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Chile The worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 () severely affected Chile. The virus was confirmed to have reached Chile on 3 March 2020. Initial cases had been imported from So ...

and Alzheimer's disease.

Career

Born in

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo () is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern c ...

, Graffigna moved to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

in 1968 after playing for

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievem ...

in his homeland. He helped

Unión San Felipe Unión San Felipe is a Chilean Football club, their hometown is San Felipe in the V Región of Valparaíso. They play in the second level of the Chilean football league, the Primera B. They were the Copa Chile champions, and played the 2010 C ...

win the 1971 Primera División title and after a spell with Antofagasta, he moved to Mexico to play for

C.F. Pachuca Club de Fútbol Pachuca is a Mexican professional football team based in Pachuca, Hidalgo, that competes in Liga MX. Founded by Cornish miners from Camborne and Redruth in 1901, it is one of the oldest football clubs in the Americas, and was ...

. Graffigna played two seasons in the NASL for the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs was an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 to 1981 as well as the 1975 NASL Indoor tourn ...

and won the championship in 1974. He next moved to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

where he joined

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

club

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

. Graffigna spent three seasons with PEC, and had a goal disallowed as the club lost the

1976–77 KNVB Cup The 59th edition of the KNVB Cup started on October 10, 1976. The final was played on May 19, 1977: FC Twente beat PEC Zwolle 3–0 (after extra time) and won the cup for the first time. Teams * All 18 participants of the Eredivisie 1976-77, en ...

final to

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

. In 1978 he clinched promotion to Holland's top level after winning the

league title. He left for Chile in 1979 after his father died there and to be close to his mother.

Personal life

He naturalized

an in 2015, keeping the

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an nationality. In 1968 he came to Chile to join

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 Com ...

where his older brother, Pedro Graffigna, played since 1966. He lived in

Quillota Quillota is a city located in the Aconcagua River valley in central Chile's Valparaíso Region. It is the capital and largest city of Quillota Province, where many inhabitants live in the outlying farming areas of San Isidro, La Palma, Pococ ...

, Chile.

References

External links

Uri Banhoffer
at North American Soccer League Players

at North American Soccer League {{DEFAULTSORT:Graffigna, Uruguay 1948 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Montevideo Association football forwards Uruguayan footballers El Tanque Sisley players San Luis de Quillota footballers Unión San Felipe footballers Unión Española footballers C.F. Pachuca players Atlético Español footballers C.D. Aviación footballers Los Angeles Aztecs players PEC Zwolle players Santiago Morning footballers Deportes Iberia footballers Uruguayan Segunda División players Chilean Primera División players Primera B de Chile players Liga MX players Eerste Divisie players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Chile Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate footballers in Mexico Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in the United States Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Uruguayan emigrants to Chile Naturalized citizens of Chile Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile