Diego Chará

Club

Portland Timbers

Position

Midfielder

Nationality

Colombia

Date of birth

1986-04-05

Birthplace

Cali, Colombia

Height

173 cm

Weight

68 kg

Shirt number

21

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.

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. 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.

Personal
Chará's older brother, Felipe Chará, and his younger brother, Yimmi Chará are also professional footballers. Yimmi currently also plays for Portland Timbers, officially signing on January 2, 2020.

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