Diego Ferney Chará Zamora (born April 5, 1986) is a Colombian professional

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 le ...

who plays for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

Career

Club

Chará began his career in the youth ranks of

Deportes Quindío Deportes Quindío is a professional Colombian football club based in Armenia that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on 8 January 1951, and its best achievement was winning the 1956 league tournament. They play th ...

. 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 América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

. In one year with America Chará made 31 league appearances and scored 1 goal. The following season, he joined

Deportes Tolima Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. Founded in 1954, the club has wo ...

and was a key player in his club's run to the quarterfinal of the

2010 Copa Sudamericana The 2010 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2010 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 9th edition of CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. The winner qualified for the 2011 Copa Libertadores, ...

. The following season, he helped Tolima qualify to the

2011 Copa Libertadores The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2011 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament ...

. During the 2011 Copa Libertadores Chará appeared in seven games, and provided an assist in a 2-0 win over Brazilian power

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

in the early stages of the tournament. As a result of his play during the Copa Libertadores run Chará started to receive interest from

side

. In April 2011, Chará signed with Portland and became the club's first ever

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. On August 20, he scored his first goal in Major League Soccer after just 78 seconds of the home match against

Cascadia Cup The Cascadia Cup is the name of the trophy created in 2004 by supporters of the Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders, and Vancouver Whitecaps, which is awarded each season to the best soccer team in the Pacific Northwest. The cup is named for the ...

rivals

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

. It broke the record for the fastest MLS goal for the club.

International

Chará has been capped twice for the Colombia national team. Chará played his first game for

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

on 18 November 2010 in a friendly match against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Personal

Chará's older brother, Felipe Chará, and his younger brother,

Yimmi Chará Yimmi Javier Chará Zamora (born April 2, 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Portland Timbers and the Colombia national team. Club career On December 17, 2014, Rayados de Monterrey ...

are also professional footballers. Yimmi currently also plays for

, officially signing on January 2, 2020. Chará became a naturalized

United States citizen Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constituti ...

in August 2019. Before that, he held a U.S. green card which qualified him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honours

Portland Timbers *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tour ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

* Western Conference (playoffs): 2015 * Western Conference (regular season): 2013, 2017 Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

References

External links

* * * 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 {{Colombia-footy-midfielder-stub