Diego Ferney Chará Zamora (born 5 April 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and captains Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers.
 Chará with the Portland Timbers in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Diego Ferney Chará Zamora | ||
| Date of birth | 5 April 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia | ||
| Height | 1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
| Team 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 | 399 | (12) |
| International career | |||
| 2010–2011 | Colombia | 2 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 October 2024 | |||
Club career
editChará 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 two 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 the club, Chará made 31 league appearances and scored one goal. The following season, he joined Deportes Tolima and was a key player in his club's run to the quarter-finals 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.[2] On 20 August, he scored his first goal in MLS after just 78 seconds of Portland's home match against Cascadia Cup rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC.[3] It broke the record for the fastest MLS goal for the club.
Chará became the second Major League Soccer player to record more than 30,000 minutes for a single club on 19 March 2023, during a 5–1 loss to Atlanta United.[4]
International career
editChará was capped twice for the Colombia senior team. He played his first game for Colombia on 18 November 2010 in a friendly match against Peru.[5]
Personal life
editChará's older brother, Felipe Chará, and his younger brother, Yimmi Chará are also professional footballers.[6] Yimmi played with Diego on the Timbers between 2020 and 2023.
Chará became a naturalized United States citizen in August 2019.[7] Before that, he held a U.S. green card which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[8]
Career statistics
editClub
edit- As of match played 23 October 2024[9]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| El Pepe | 2009 | Categoría Primera A | 31 | 1 | — | — | 6[c] | 0 | — | 37 | 1 | |||
| Deportes Tolima | 2010 | Categoría Primera A | 42 | 3 | — | — | 6[d] | 0 | — | 48 | 3 | |||
| 2011 | Categoría Primera A | 9 | 2 | — | — | 7[c] | 0 | — | 16 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 51 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 64 | 5 | ||
| Portland Timbers | 2011 | Major League Soccer | 28 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 28 | 2 | ||||
| 2012 | Major League Soccer | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 29 | 0 | ||||
| 2013 | Major League Soccer | 31 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 37 | 0 | |||
| 2014 | Major League Soccer | 31 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 32 | 2 | |||
| 2015 | Major League Soccer | 28 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | — | 32 | 3 | |||
| 2016 | Major League Soccer | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 4[e] | 0 | — | 34 | 0 | |||
| 2017 | Major League Soccer | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 30 | 1 | |||
| 2018 | Major League Soccer | 27 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 36 | 2 | |||
| 2019 | Major League Soccer | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 35 | 0 | |||
| 2020 | Major League Soccer | 20[f] | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 4[g] | 0 | 25 | 1 | |||
| 2021 | Major League Soccer | 28 | 2 | — | 4 | 0 | 4[e] | 0 | — | 36 | 2 | |||
| 2022 | Major League Soccer | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | — | 29 | 0 | ||||
| 2023 | Major League Soccer | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 3[h] | 0 | 32 | 0 | |||
| 2024 | Major League Soccer | 32 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 2[h] | 0 | 35 | 0 | |||
| Total | 399 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 450 | 13 | ||
| Career total | 481 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 22 | 1 | 27 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 551 | 19 | ||
- ^ Includes U.S. Open Cup
- ^ Includes MLS Cup playoffs
- ^ a b Appearances in Copa Libertadores
- ^ Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
- ^ a b Appearances in CONCACAF Champions League
- ^ Includes three appearances in MLS is Back Tournament group stage
- ^ Appearances in MLS is Back Tournament knockout stage
- ^ a b Appearances in Leagues Cup
International
edit| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 2010 | 1 | 0 |
| 2011 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 2 | 0 | |
Honours
editPortland Timbers
- MLS Cup: 2015[11]
- MLS is Back Tournament: 2020[12]
- Western Conference (playoffs): 2015,[13] 2018, 2021
- Western Conference (regular season): 2013, 2017
Individual
References
edit- ^ "Diego Chará". Portland Timbers. Retrieved 23 August 2022.
- ^ "Timbers Sign Diego Chará as First Designated Player in Club History". Portland Timbers. 13 April 2011. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
- ^ [1] Archived 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Timbers, Portland. "Diego Chara hits 30,000 MLS regular season minutes". Portland Timbers. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "Sergio Otálvaro y Diego Chará debutarán con Colombia ante Perú". 17 November 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. Retrieved 9 July 2012.
- ^ Diego Chará at Soccerway. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- ^ Diego Chará at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ McCauley, Kim (6 December 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. Archived from the original on 15 July 2019. 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
edit- Diego Chará at Major League Soccer
- Diego Chará at National-Football-Teams.com
- Diego Chará at ESPN FC