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 lea ...

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 the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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 Sou ...

, and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Career

Born in

Montevideo, Uruguay Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . Montevideo is situated on the southern coa ...

, Graffigna moved to

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 ...

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 achievement ...

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. The club was founded on October 16, 1956 with the merger ...

win the 1971 Primera División title and after a spell with Antofagasta, he moved to Mexico to play for C.F. Pachuca. Graffigna played two seasons in the NASL for the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs were 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 North American Soccer League season, 1974 ...

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

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

where he joined

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

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

1976–77 KNVB Cup The 1976-77 KNVB Cup was the 59th edition of the Dutch national football annual knockout tournament for the KNVB Cup. 46 teams contested, beginning on 10 October 1976 and ending at the final on 19 May 1977. PSV unsuccessfully defended its 1976 ...

final to

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

. 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, 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 the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

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, Chile. The club competes in 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' ...

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

Quillota Quillota is a city located in the valley of the Aconcagua River in Valparaíso Region, Chile. It is the capital and largest city of Quillota Province. It is surrounded by the localities of San Isidro, La Palma, Pocochay, and San Pedro. It is ...

, 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 Men's association football forwards Uruguayan men's footballers El Tanque Sisley players San Luis de Quillota footballers Unión San Felipe footballers Unión Española footballers C.F. Pachuca players Atlético Español F.C. 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 men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's 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 20th-century Uruguayan sportsmen