Ching began his professional career when the Los Angeles Galaxy drafted him as the 16th overall pick of the 2001 MLS SuperDraft. Los Angeles chose midfielder Brian Mullan and forward Isaias Bardales Jr. in the first round, 9th and 11th respectively, before picking Ching with their fourth pick in the second round. Ching made his MLS debut against San Jose on April 7, 2001, as a member of the starting lineup. During the 2001 season, Ching appeared in eight games (starting one) and recorded one goal and one assist.
Ching started and played the full match in his U.S. Open Cup debut, a 5–0 victory over the Nashville Metros at Titan Stadium on June 27, 2001, in the second round. Ching went the full 90 again in Los Angeles' 3–1 victory over the Seattle Sounders Select where he provided the assist to Isaias Bardales' 81st-minute goal, the Galaxy's third of the match. Those would be Ching's only appearances in the 2001 tournament as the Los Angeles Galaxy went on to win their first U.S. Open Cup trophy in franchise history.
Ching made his MLS Cup Playoffs debut in a 4–1 loss in Game 2 of the quarterfinals against the New York-New Jersey MetroStars on September 27, 2001, after coming on as an 88th minute substitution for Cobi Jones. Ching appeared for a second time in the playoffs in the Galaxy's 1–0 overtime win in Game 2 of the MLS semifinal series against the Chicago Fire on October 14, 2001, entering the game in the 91st minute for Sasha Victorine. The Galaxy advanced to the 2001 MLS Cup final and tied 1–1 with the San Jose Earthquakes in regulation before Dwayne De Rosario's golden goal in the 96th minute ended the match.
After signing Carlos Ruiz, the Galaxy waived Ching on February 13, 2002, to comply with the MLS roster limits. Ching finished the 2002 season second in the A-League in scoring with 16 goals and eight assists, and was selected as a member of the A-League All-League first team.
San Jose Earthquakes (2003–2005)
The first time the Earthquakes coaching staff got a good look at Brian Ching was facing him in the July 17, 2002, third round match of the U.S. Open Cup when San Jose defeated the Seattle Sounders 4–3 after sudden death extra time. Kinnear, assistant coach at the time, and head coach Frank Yallop were impressed with how Ching matched up with Earthquakes defender Eddie Robinson, considered one of the best defenders in MLS at the time. On February 11, 2003, San Jose traded Devin Barclay to D.C. United in exchange for the first overall pick in the 2003 MLS supplemental draft and on February 28, 2013, they used that pick to draft Ching. He played his first Earthquakes home game in the second leg against Municipal where he scored the first goal in the 35th minute. After the most successful regular season in team history with an 18–4–10 record and 64 points, the Earthquakes were placed on hiatus on December 15, 2005, with the franchise moving to Houston. Ching scored the opening goal from a Brad Davis free kick in 3–2 win vs. Real Salt Lake on August 19 but was ejected in the 82nd minute for hard foul, the first red card in the 162 games of his MLS career. He was ejected again in next MLS game, a 0–0 tie vs. Los Angeles Galaxy on October 18, for raising his hand to the face of an opponent. Ching was traded back to Houston on February 16, 2012, for a first-round draft pick in the 2013 MLS SuperDraft, after training with Montreal for about a month, coincidentally playing a preseason game against the Houston Dynamo.
Ching started opening day on for the Dynamo for the sixth time in seven years and nearly scored at Chivas USA when his first-touch volley off a long cross from Brad Davis hit inside of post and caromed away for near goal. Ching made his 200th MLS appearance (136th with Dynamo) in 3–1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC on June 10. Ching made his 150th Dynamo start in all competitions against D.C. United on April 28, the 4th Dynamo to reach this milestone. Ching drew and converted a penalty in the 83rd minute on June 30 vs. Philadelphia, his second goal of the year and first at BBVA Compass Stadium. The goal against Philadelphia was his 20th career game-winning goal. He would go on to set a career-high with 30 games in 2012 regular season, tying his career-high of five assists. Ching officially announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2013 Major League Soccer season on September 24, 2013, although he played his final professional minutes in a 4–1 loss to the New York Red Bulls on Sunday, September 8, 2013. He made two more appearances on the match day squad, his last being in a CONCACAF Champions League game on September 25, 2013, but was an unused substitution.
Ching did not feature in the Dynamo's 2013 MLS Cup Playoffs run as he was not called up to the matchday squad for any of the playoff games. The Dynamo were eliminated by Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference championship game on November 23, 2013, thus bringing an official end to Ching's 12-year MLS career.
International career
thumb|Ching training with the [[United States men's national soccer team|U.S. national team in 2006]]
Although having a Chinese background, and being contacted by the Chinese Football Association to play for the Chinese team, Ching still earned his first cap with the U.S. national team on May 26, 2003, as a substitute in a friendly match against Wales at Spartan Stadium (home stadium of Ching's club at the time, San Jose Earthquakes).
On May 2, 2006, Ching was named to the U.S. men's squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany but did not make an appearance in the tournament.
He scored a goal in a 2–0 US CONCACAF Gold Cup victory over Trinidad and Tobago on June 9, 2007. He drew a penalty in the box of the second half of the Gold Cup Final against Mexico. Landon Donovan converted the penalty, tying the game at one. The USA won 2–1 after Benny Feilhaber's game winner.
Ching was called in to the USA side to face Barbados in the first round of CONCACAF World cup Qualifying for the 2010 World Cup. He then scored two goals in the US team's largest victory ever, 8–0.
On May 11, 2010, Ching was named to the preliminary U.S. men's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa but did not make the final 23-man roster.
Career statistics
Club
<!-- NOTE: when updating stats, update the infobox too! -->
!colspan=3|Playoffs
!colspan=3|Cup
!colspan=3|Continental
!colspan=3|Total
|-
!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists!!Apps!!Goals!!Assists
|-
| rowspan="2"|Los Angeles Galaxy
|2001
|8||1||1||2||0||0||2||0||1||Colspan="3"|—||12||1||2
|-
!Total
!8!!1!!1!!2!!0!!0!!2!!0!!1!!0!!0!!0!!12!!1!!2
|-
| rowspan="3"|Seattle Sounders
|2001 (loan)
|6||3||1||Colspan="3"|—||Colspan="3"|—||Colspan="3"|—||6||3||1
|-
|2002
|25||16||8||2||0||0||2||1||0||Colspan="3"|—||29||17||8
|-
!Total
!31!!19!!9!!2!!0!!0!!2!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!35!!20!!9
|-
| rowspan="4"|San Jose Earthquakes
|2003
|15||6||2||0||0||0||1||0||0||2||1||0||18||7||2
|-
|2004
|25||12||4||2||0||0||3||1||1||2||0||0||32||13||5
|-
|2005
|16||7||5||2||1||0||0||0||0||Colspan="3"|—||18||8||5
|-
!Total
!56!!25!!11!!4!!1!!0!!4!!1!!1!!4!!1!!0!!68!!28!!12
|-
| rowspan="9"|Houston Dynamo
|2006
|21||11||2||4||3||0||1||0||0||Colspan="3"|—||26||14||2
|-
|2007
|20||7||2||3||2||1||0||0||0||6||3||2||26||12||5
|-
|2008
|25||13||5||2||0||0||0||0||0||9||1||2||33||14||7
|-
|2009
|19||8||3||3||1||0||0||0||0||7||1||1||29||10||4
|-
|2010
|20||7||3||Colspan="3"|—||0||0||0||3
|0
|0||20||7||3
|-
|2011
|20||5||1||4||1||1||0||0||0||Colspan="3"|—||24||6||2
|-
|2012
|30||5||5||4||0||0||0||0||0||3||1||0||37||6||5
|-
|2013
|14||0||1||0||0||0||2||0||0||3||0||0||19||0||1
|-
!Total
!169!!56!!22!!20!!7!!2!!3!!0!!0!!32!!6!!5!!224!!69!!29
|-
!colspan=2 | Career total
!264!!101!!43!!28!!8!!2!!11!!2!!2!!36!!7!!5!!339!!118!!52
|}
Note that:
- Cells marked with an em dash (—) indicate the player did not participate in that competition because the club did not qualify, was eliminated, or the player was no longer with the club before the start of the competition.
- In competitions where the player has zero appearances, the club qualified and played in that competition and the player was registered and eligible to play. Player did not appear due to injury or was not selected by the coach.
Notes
||1||0
|-
|2004||4||2
|-
|2005||6||0
|-
|2006||9||2
|-
|2007||5||1
|-
|2008||7||4
|-
|2009||11||1
|-
|2010||2||1
|-
!colspan="2"|Total||45||11
|}
International goals
:Scores and results list United States' goal tally first
{| class="wikitable"
!Result
!Competition
!Location
!Opponent
!Score
!Result
!Competition
|-
|01.
|August 18, 2004
|Independence Park, Kingston, Jamaica
|
|
|
|
|-
|02.
|October 9, 2004
|Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|03.
|February 19, 2006
|Pizza Hut Park, Frisco, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|04.
|May 26, 2006
|Cleveland Browns Stadium, Cleveland, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|05.
|June 9, 2007
|Home Depot Center, Carson, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|06.
|June 15, 2008
|Home Depot Center, Carson, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|07.
|June 15, 2008
|Home Depot Center, Carson, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|08.
|September 10, 2008
|Toyota Park, Bridgeview, USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|09.
|June 21, 2008
|RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|10.
|July 8, 2009
|RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C., USA
|
|
|
|
|-
|11.
|February 24, 2010
|Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida, USA
|
|
|
|
|}
Management career
The Houston Dynamo re-signed Ching in March 2013 to serve as a player/coach in this his last year playing. Under his last contract with the MLS club, Ching served the title of assistant coach.
On December 23, 2013, the Houston Dash named Ching as the inaugural managing director the NWSL franchise. Ching manages the day-to-day duties on both the business and technical sides under the supervision of Dash and Dynamo team president Chris Canetti. While his focus will be primarily with the Dash, Ching will also advise Canetti and head coach Dominic Kinnear as needed on the technical side with the Dynamo. The match, which took place on December 13, 2013, featured historical Dynamo players as well as Ching's old teammates from other MLS clubs and the U.S. national team. Ching's Orange Team won 6–4 and Ching scored five goals to close the curtain on his career.
{| width=92%
|-
|
|
|}
{| style="width:100%;"
|-
|style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="font-size: 90%"
|-
!width="25"| !!width="25"|
|-
|GK ||18 || Pat Onstad || ||
|-
|RB ||16|| Craig Waibel || ||
|-
|CB ||4|| Ryan Cochrane || ||
|-
|CB ||7|| Chris Wondolowski || ||
|-
|LB ||24|| Wade Barrett || ||
|-
|RM ||9|| Brian Mullan || ||
|-
|CM||2|| Eddie Robinson || ||
|-
|CM||11|| Brad Davis
|-
|LM||17|| Mike Chabala || ||
|-
|ST||14 || Dwayne De Rosario || ||
|-
|ST||25|| Brian Ching || ||
|-
|colspan=3|Substitutes:
|-
|GK ||24|| Tyler Deric || ||
|-
|MF ||6 || Kelly Gray || ||
|-
|FW||8|| Paul Dalglish || ||
|-
|FW ||33|| Dominic Kinnear || ||
|-
|FW ||21 || Nate Jaqua || ||
|-
|colspan=3|Coaches/Inactive:
|-
|colspan=4| Stuart Holden
|-
|colspan=4| Corey Ashe
|-
|colspan=4| Ricardo Clark
|}
|valign="top"|
| style="vertical-align:top; width:50%;"|
{| cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" style="font-size:90%; margin:auto"
|-
!width=25| !!width=25|
|-
|GK ||20 || Landon Donovan
|-
|RB ||12|| Jimmy Conrad || ||
|-
|CB ||32 || Bobby Boswell || ||
|-
|CB ||2|| Hunter Freeman || ||
|-
|LB ||21 || Anthony Arena || ||
|-
|RM||22|| Davy Arnaud || ||
|-
|CM||27 || Oscar Boniek García || ||
|-
|CM||11|| Colin Clark || ||
|-
|LM||19|| Juan Pablo Galavis || ||
|-
|ST ||14|| Steve Ralston || ||
|-
|ST ||3|| Calen Carr || ||
|-
|colspan=3|Substitutes:
|-
|MF||7|| John Spencer || ||
|-
|MF||5|| Danny O'Rourke || ||
|-
|colspan=3|Coaches/Inactive:
|-
|colspan=4| Matt Reis
|-
|colspan=4| Charlie Davies
|}
|}
{| width=60% style="font-size: 90%"
|
Man of the Match:
<br /> Brian Ching (Orange)
|style="width:50%; vertical-align:top;"|
Match rules
- 70 minutes (35 minute halves)
- Unlimited substitutions.
|}