Diego Chará
 Chará with the Portland Timbers in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Diego Ferney Chará Zamora | ||
| Date of birth | April 5, 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | Portland Timbers | ||
| Number | 21 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Deportes Quindío | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2004–2008 | Deportes Quindío | 124 | (2) |
| 2009 | América de Cali | 31 | (1) |
| 2010–2011 | Deportes Tolima | 51 | (5) |
| 2011– | Portland Timbers | 310 | (12) |
| 2020 | Portland Timbers 2 | 1 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 2010–2011 | Colombia | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 December 2021 | |||
Diego Ferney Chará Zamora (born April 5, 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers.
Career[]
Club[]
Chará began his career in the youth ranks of Deportes Quindío. In 2004, he moved up to the senior side and became an important player for Quindío. The talented midfielder made 124 league appearances and scored 2 goals while with Quindío. As a result of his play he began to draw the attention of the top clubs in Colombia and in 2009 joined América de Cali. In one year with America Chará made 31 league appearances and scored 1 goal. The following season, he joined Deportes Tolima and was a key player in his club's run to the quarterfinal of the 2010 Copa Sudamericana. The following season, he helped Tolima qualify to the 2011 Copa Libertadores. During the 2011 Copa Libertadores Chará appeared in seven games, and provided an assist in a 2-0 win over Brazilian power Corinthians in the early stages of the tournament.
As a result of his play during the Copa Libertadores run Chará started to receive interest from Major League Soccer side Portland Timbers. In April 2011, Chará signed with Portland and became the club's first ever Designated Player.[1]
On August 20, he scored his first goal in Major League Soccer after just 78 seconds of the home match against Cascadia Cup rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC.[2] It broke the record for the fastest MLS goal for the club.
International[]
Chará has been capped twice for the Colombian national team. Chará played his first game for Colombia on 18 November 2010 in a friendly match against Peru.[3]
Personal[]
Chará's older brother, Felipe Chará, and his younger brother, Yimmi Chará are also professional footballers.[4] Yimmi currently also plays for Portland Timbers, officially signing on January 2, 2020.
Chará became a naturalized United States citizen in August 2019.[5] Before that, he held a U.S. green card which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[6]
Honours[]
Portland Timbers
- MLS Cup: 2015[7]
- MLS is Back Tournament: 2020[8]
- Western Conference (playoffs): 2015[9]
- Western Conference (regular season): 2013, 2017
Individual
- MLS All-Star: 2019[10]
- MLS Best XI: 2020[11]
References[]
- ^ Portland Timbers (2011-04-13). "Timbers Sign Diego Chará as First Designated Player in Club History". Portland Timbers. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
- ^ [1] Archived October 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Sergio Otálvaro y Diego Chará debutarán con Colombia ante Perú". November 17, 2010.
- ^ Gruesso, Héctor Fabio (2 July 2009). ""Mi consigna es ganar todo con el Deportivo Cali", dijo Felipe Chará" ["My motto is to win everything with Deportivo Cali", said Felipe Chará] (in Spanish). El Tiempo.
- ^ @TimbersFC (16 August 2019). ""Excuse my raspy voice, last night I..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ Kip Kesgard, community blogger. "Timbers announce formation of new Television affiliation while awaiting the return of traveling players | OregonLive.com". Blog.oregonlive.com. Retrieved July 9, 2012.
- ^ McCauley, Kim (December 6, 2015). "Goals, screw-ups, stats and more: Everything great from the MLS Cup Final". SBNation.com.
- ^ "Dario Zuparic goal clinches MLS Back is Tournament for Portland Timbers". The Guardian. 12 August 2020. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ "Portland Timbers become first Cascadia club to reach the MLS Cup: "We want to win the big one" | MLSsoccer.com".
- ^ "2019 MLS All-Star Roster". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
- ^ "2020 MLS Best XI presented by The Home Depot". Major League Soccer. 20 November 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
External links[]
- Diego Chará at Major League Soccer
- Diego Chará at National-Football-Teams.com
- Diego Chará at ESPN FC
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- 1986 births
- Living people
- América de Cali footballers
- Association football midfielders
- Categoría Primera A players
- Colombia international footballers
- Colombian expatriate footballers
- Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States
- Colombian footballers
- Deportes Quindío footballers
- Deportes Tolima footballers
- Designated Players (MLS)
- Expatriate soccer players in the United States
- Major League Soccer players
- Portland Timbers players
- Footballers from Cali
- Portland Timbers 2 players
- USL Championship players
- Colombian football midfielder stubs