Diego Chará

Diego Ferney Chará Zamora (born April 5, 1986) is a Colombian-American footballer who currently plays for Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer. Chará plays as a defensive midfielder, and is known for his feisty play.

Diego Chará
Diego Chará playing for Portland Timbers in 2015
Personal information
Full name Diego Ferney Chará Zamora
Date of birth (1986-04-05) April 5, 1986
Place of birth Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
Height 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing 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 291 (10)
National team
2010–2014 Colombia 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 October 2019

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

Club
Portland Timbers

References
  1. Portland Timbers (2011-04-13). "Timbers Sign Diego Chará as First Designated Player in Club History". Portland Timbers. Retrieved 2014-04-11.
  2. Archived October 3, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. http://elpilon.com.co/sergio-otalvaro-y-diego-chara-debutaran-con-colombia-ante-peru/
  4. 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.
  5. https://twitter.com/TimbersFC/status/1162410707331080192
  6. 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.
  7. https://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2015/12/6/9858868/timbers-crew-2015-mls-cup-final-score-results
  8. http://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2015/11/29/portland-timbers-first-cascadia-club-reach-mls-cup-close-capturing-first-trophy-we
  9. "2019 MLS All-Star Roster". Major League Soccer. Retrieved 14 July 2019.


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