José Antonio Camacho

José Antonio Camacho

Personal information
Full name	José Antonio Camacho Alfaro
Date of birth	8 June 1955 (1955-06-08)
Place of birth	Cieza, Spain
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	China (coach)
Youth career
	Albacete
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1972–1973	Albacete
1973–1974	Castilla
1974–1989	Real Madrid	414	(9)
National team
1973	Spain U18	3	(0)
1975–1976	Spain amateur	2	(0)
1975–1988	Spain	81	(0)
Teams managed
1992–1993	Rayo Vallecano
1994–1996	Espanyol
1996–1997	Sevilla
1997–1998	Espanyol
1998–2002	Spain
2002–2004	Benfica
2004	Real Madrid
2007–2008	Benfica
2008–2011	Osasuna
2011–	China
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Camacho and the second or maternal family name is Alfaro.

José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (born 8 June 1955) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a left defender, and the current coach of the China PR national football team.

He played for 15 professional years with Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping it to 19 major titles, including nine La Liga championships. Subsequently, he embarked in a lengthy manager career, which included two very brief spells with his main club.

Camacho gained more than 80 caps with Spain, representing it in two World Cups and as many European Championships. He also managed the national team during four years, taking it to the quarterfinals in the 2002 World Cup.

Playing career

Camacho was born in Cieza, Murcia. After playing youth football at Albacete Balompié, he moved to La Liga giants Real Madrid at age 18, being almost immediately cast into the first team and its starting XI, his debut being handed by manager Luis Molowny.

During his spell with Real Madrid, Camacho played in nearly 600 official matches (414 in the league alone), forming a proficient left-wing partnership with Rafael Gordillo, who played mainly as a midfielder then. In January 1978, he suffered a serious injury in training, which put his career on hold for nearly two years, but returned strong, being instrumental as the capital side won consecutive UEFA Cups.

Camacho also played 81 games for the Spanish national team, his debut coming at not yet 20, on 5 February 1975 in Valencia, in a 1–1 draw against Scotland for the UEFA Euro 1976 qualifiers.

For the following 13 years, Camacho was a defensive mainstay for the national side, being selected – and always as first-choice – for the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 1984 and 1988; after the 0–2 group stage loss against West Germany in the latter competition, he retired from the international scene, aged 33.

Coaching career

Beginnings

Following his retirement as a player in 1989, Camacho began coaching, first in Real Madrid's coaching staff. His first professional experiences were spent at Rayo Vallecano and RCD Espanyol, both of which he helped promote to the first division.

In the 1998 summer, Camacho took over Real Madrid's first team, but left after only a mere 22 days over disagreements with the club's management.

Spanish national team

Camacho succeeded Javier Clemente as national team manager in September 1998, after a shock 2–3 loss in Cyprus in a Euro 2000 qualifier.

The tide quickly turned under Camacho, who led the side to the final stages, where it bowed out to eventual champions France 2–1 in the quarterfinals. Two years later, his team lost in the same stages to South Korea, now in the 2002 World Cup. Following the controversial defeat, he announced his resignation, being replaced by Iñaki Sáez.

Benfica/Real Madrid-Benfica return/Later years

After that, Camacho returned to club action, being appointed at Portugal's S.L. Benfica on 29 November 2002, in the place of sacked Jesualdo Ferreira. Two years later, his team won the Portuguese Cup against José Mourinho-led F.C. Porto in extra-time, as well as finishing second in the league. A tough tackler in his playing days, he also showed a very human side, when he deeply cried after Hungarian Miklós Fehér died on the pitch, shortly after entering Benfica's match at Vitória de Guimarães.

For 2004–05, Camacho returned to Real Madrid on a two-year contract, as a replacement to sacked Carlos Queiroz. However, things quickly went wrong again in his second spell, after a 0–3 defeat at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the season's UEFA Champions League, and a 0–1 league loss at Espanyol four days later, in September. Shortly after, he resigned and was replaced by assistant Mariano García Remón.

Following Fernando Santos' mutual agreement termination of contract with Benfica, after a 1–1 away draw with Leixões S.C. in 2007–08 Portuguese League's opener, Camacho returned to Benfica. However, following a poor string of results, and claiming he was no longer able to motivate the team, Camacho announced he would leave the club, minutes after drawing a home match against bottom-placed União de Leiria on 9 March 2008.

After working as co-commentator on Spanish TV network Cuatro during Spain's victorious Euro 2008 campaign (he would also work for the channel during the 2010 World Cup, which also ended with the national team's triumph), on 13 October 2008, Camacho replaced José Ángel Ziganda at the helm of CA Osasuna.

On 14 February 2011, following a 0–1 away loss against Real Sociedad that placed the Navarrese inside the relegation zone, Camacho was fired.

Chinese national team

On 14 August 2011, Camacho took over the reins of the Chinese national team, for a reported annual salary of $8 million.

Honours

Player

Club

Real Madrid

• UEFA Cup: 1984–85, 1985–86
• Spanish League: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
• Spanish Cup: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1988–89
• Spanish League Cup: 1984–85
• Spanish Supercup: 1988, 1989

Country

• UEFA European Football Championship: Runner-up 1984

Manager

Benfica

• Portuguese Cup: 2003–04

External links

• BDFutbol player profile
• BDFutbol coach profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• José Antonio Camacho at National-Football-Teams.com
• José Antonio Camacho – FIFA competition record
• International appearances; at RSSSF
• Real Madrid biography (Spanish)
• Biography at Real Madrid Fans (Spanish)