A forward, he was nicknamed Tscha Bum or "Cha Boom" in Germany because of his name and thunderous ball striking ability.

He is the youngest player to ever reach 100 international caps in the world at 24 years and 35 days,[note 1] and the all-time leading goalscorer of the South Korean national team with 58 goals.

[13] After his retirement, he opened a football academy to develop youth players in South Korea, and managed the national team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

He started his football career by transferring to Kyungshin Middle School after playing field hockey for Yeongdo for one and a half years.

[16] Cha originally had a plan to enlist in the Navy FC, but the ROK Air Force persuaded him that it would move his discharge up by six months.

[17] While playing for the national team in the 1978 Korea Cup, Cha attracted the attention of an Eintracht Frankfurt coach Dieter Schulte [de], who had received an invitation to serve as an scout/observer at that tournament.

In November 1978, Schulte sent a letter to the KFA (Korea Football Association), suggesting Cha's tryout in West Germany, who would be discharged from the ROK Air Force in January 1979.

[17] Cha had taken time off to leave for Frankfurt after the 1978 Asian Games in December and succeeded to contract with another Bundesliga club Darmstadt 98 by signing a six-month deal.

After his debut match against VfL Bochum on 30 December, Cha returned to South Korea due to his complicated issue about military service on 5 January.

[18] After being discharged from the military service completely, Cha still wanted to play in Bundesliga, and joined Eintracht Frankfurt at age 26 in July 1979.

[19] After the first half of his first season in Germany, he was classified as world class in the player rankings [de] of kicker, a notable German football magazine.

In addition to a UEFA Cup title, he was named along with Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Kevin Keegan in the Bundesliga Team of the Season by kicker.

[34] In the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification, he played all of South Korea's twelve matches, and recorded five goals and two assists,[35][36] although his knee got a boil during the competition.

He showed exemplary performance in intensive checks by opponents,[41][42] but failed to prevent South Korea's elimination in the group stage.

He later blamed the KFA for the bad performance, citing lack of bonuses and alleging pro soccer games in Korea were fixed.