Claudio Patricio Núñez Caamaño (born October 16, 1975) is a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an former

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 lea ...

who played as a striker. He is nicknamed "El Diablo", which means, "the Devil". He made his name playing for

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

, where he had his most success.

Career

As a child, Núñez was with Humberto Nelson in his city of birth, then he joined

Santiago Wanderers Club de Deportes Santiago Wanderers is a football club based in Valparaíso, a founding member of the Chilean Football Federation. Their home ground, Estadio Elías Figueroa Brander, is in the north-west of the city. Wanderers have played their ...

youth system. After playing during four seasons for the club, he moved to

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

, Mexico, to play with Tigres in 1996. Tigres had just been privatized after a crisis that ended with the team's relegation to

Primera División A Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

. In 1998, he played on loan at Universidad Católica. His incredible number of goals in Tigres quickly made him a team hero. He was instrumental in returning Tigres to the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. He played 10 seasons with Tigres, 8 in First Division, in which he scored over 40 goals. He played many

Clásico Regiomontano The Clásico Regiomontano, Clásico Regio, Clásico del Norte or Clásico Norteño is a football derby in Nuevo León, Mexico, between crosstown rival teams C.F. Monterrey and Tigres UANL. Since the first Clásico in 1974, the two teams have comp ...

matches, against Tigres arch-rival Rayados de Monterrey. He became the maximum scorer in the history of Tigres for matches of this kind, with eight goals. His record was tied by

Walter Gaitán Walter Nicolás Gaitán Sayavedra (March 13, 1977) is a retired Argentine professional footballer. An attacking midfielder, Gaitán was known for his vision on the pitch, passing, powerful left shot and a classy ball control. Nicknamed ''Chueco ...

in January 2007. An injury separated him from the fields, and Tigres consequently separated him from the team in 2001. In 2002, he moved to play with Puebla F.C., a team that has been relegated to

. He used to wear the number 16 on his back for every match he played. In 2003, he returned to Santiago Wanderers, making 11 appearances. In 2005, he played his first

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tourname ...

with Tigres, where he scored some goals. Nuñez has also played for

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile currently participating in the Primera División de Chile. History Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons ...

and Everton in

and

Al-Shoalah Al-Shoulla (; ) is a Saudi Arabian professional association football, football club based in Al-Kharj, playing in the Saudi Second Division. They won the Saudi First Division League in 2011–12 and were promoted to the top-level, the Saudi Prof ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

. For his country Nuñez played 31 matches scoring 4 goals between 1996 and 2003. A farewell Clásico Regiomontano match where Nuñez played with special guests from Tigres and Monterrey was scheduled for August 4, 2009 at the Estadio Universitario, Tigres' home stadium.

Post-retirement

He has played fast football with

Monterrey Flash The Monterrey Flash, is a Mexican professional indoor soccer team based in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. Founded in 2011 as part of the Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rapido Profesional (LMFRPro), the team made its debut in the Professional Arena Socc ...

. In 2017, he started a football academy, what ended. Next, he has worked for

Azteca 7 Azteca 7 (also called El Siete) is a Mexican network owned by TV Azteca, with more than 100 main transmitters all over Mexico. Azteca 7 is available on all cable and satellite systems. Azteca 7 broadcasts entertainment series, movies, and sp ...

as an analyst.

Personal life

He lives in Monterrey with his wife. At the beginning of his playing career, he was nicknamed ''Huracán Porteño'' (Hurricane from Valparaíso) due to his speed. Since he was a player of Tigres in Mexico, he is well-known as ''Diablo Núñez'' (The Devil Núñez).

Honours

Santiago Wanderers * Segunda División de Chile:

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Tigres UANL *

InterLiga InterLiga was an association football competition and the qualification method between eight Mexican clubs to determine two clubs qualified for the Copa Libertadores, it was held from 2004 to 2010. History From 1998 to 2003, the Mexican clubs c ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Everton *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(1): 2008 Apertura

References

External links

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Claudio Níñez
at MemoriaWanderers {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunez, Claudio 1975 births Living people Footballers from Valparaíso Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chile men's international footballers Primera B de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Santiago Wanderers footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Unión Española footballers Everton de Viña del Mar footballers Ascenso MX players Liga MX players Tigres UANL footballers Club Puebla players Saudi Pro League players Al-Shoulla FC players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Men's association football forwards Chilean association football commentators