Uruguay Graffigna | |
Fullname: | Uruguay Gustavo Graffigna Banhoffer |
Birth Date: | 14 January 1948 |
Birth Place: | Montevideo, Uruguay |
Death Place: | Quillota, Chile |
Height: | 1.80 m |
Position: | Forward |
Years1: | 1966–1967 |
Clubs1: | El Tanque Sisley |
Years2: | 1968–1970 |
Years3: | 1971 |
Clubs3: | Unión San Felipe |
Years4: | 1972 |
Clubs4: | Unión Española |
Years5: | 1973 |
Years6: | 1973 |
Clubs6: | Atlético Español |
Years7: | 1974 |
Years8: | 1974–1975 |
Clubs8: | Los Angeles Aztecs |
Caps8: | 38 |
Goals8: | 21 |
Years9: | 1975–1979 |
Clubs9: | PEC Zwolle |
Years10: | 1979 |
Clubs10: | Santiago Morning |
Years11: | 1980–1983 |
Years12: | 1984 |
Uruguay Gustavo Graffigna Banhoffer, also known as Uri Banhoffer or Yuri Banhoffer (14 January 1948 – 12 March 2021[1]), was a Uruguayan footballer who played for clubs in Uruguay, Chile, the Netherlands and the United States.
He died from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Chile, and Alzheimer's disease.
Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Graffigna moved to Chile in 1968 after playing for Defensor Sporting in his homeland.[2] He helped Unión San Felipe win the 1971 Primera División title and after a spell with Antofagasta, he moved to Mexico to play for C.F. Pachuca.[3]
Graffigna played two seasons in the NASL for the Los Angeles Aztecs and won the championship in 1974.[4] He next moved to the Netherlands where he joined Eerste Divisie club PEC Zwolle. Graffigna spent three seasons with PEC,[5] and had a goal disallowed as the club lost the 1976–77 KNVB Cup final to FC Twente.[6] In 1978 he clinched promotion to Holland's top level after winning the Eerste Divisie league title.[7] He left for Chile in 1979 after his father died there and to be close to his mother.[8]
He naturalized Chilean in 2015, keeping the Uruguayan nationality.[9]
In 1968, he came to Chile to join Unión La Calera where his older brother, Pedro Graffigna,[10] played since 1966.[9]
He lived in Quillota, Chile.[9]