Born in Hamburg, Junghans started his professional career with Bayern Munich in 1977, where he was the back up for Sepp Maier. In 1979, Maier had to end his career after a car accident. Junghans immediately enjoyed success and Bayern won the Bundesliga title in 1980 and 1981 with him between the posts. Bayern also won the DFB-Pokal and were European Cup runners-up in 1982, although Junghans did not play in the final. Junghans was part of the European Championship-winning 1980 Germany team, but as third choice goalkeeper he did not play in any of the games. In fact he would never get capped for Germany. Junghans left Bayern for Schalke after being demoted to second choice, spending four seasons in Gelsenkirchen. His next career stop was Berlin where he joined Hertha BSC, before eventually ending his playing career in 1996 for two seasons in the 2. Bundesliga with Fortuna Köln.