José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (Spanish pronunciation: [xose anˈtonjo kaˈmatʃo]; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and a former manager.
He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 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 earned more than 80 caps with Spain, representing the country in two World Cups and as many European Championships. He also managed the national team for four years, taking them to the quarter-finals in the 2002 World Cup.
Camacho was born in Cieza, Murcia. Began his football career playing in the schoolyards and streets of Cieza, where he gradually developed his skills and stood out among his peers. At the age of six, he moved with his family to Albacete. During this period, the family considered returning to their native province, and he even underwent trials for the youth academy of Real Murcia; however, the club’s coaches opted for other players, reportedly claiming that Camacho was too slight in build. Ultimately, the family decided to remain in Albacete. His footballing promise began to crystallize at the age of sixteen, when he played for Atlético Jareño, a club based in Villanueva de la Jara, in the province of Cuenca (the hometown of his future wife), before joining the youth team of Albacete Balompié, where he was deployed as a left winger. The name of the young José Antonio Camacho soon began to circulate within Spanish football circles, and national team manager Héctor Rial called him up to the Spain national under-18 team. His impressive performances earned him promotion to Albacete Balompié’s first team, which at the time competed in the Primera Regional division.
After playing at Albacete, 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 on 3 March 1974 as he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss against Málaga.
During his spell with Real Madrid, Camacho appeared in 577 official matches (414 in the league alone), forming a proficient left-wing partnership with Rafael Gordillo, who featured mainly as a midfielder. 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 played 81 games for the Spain national team, making his first appearance just 19 years old. His debut came on 5 February 1975 in a 1–1 draw against Scotland for the UEFA Euro 1976 qualifiers, in Valencia.
For the following 13 years, Camacho was a defensive mainstay for the national side, being selected – and always as first-choice – to the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, as well as Euro 1984 and 1988. After the 2–0 group stage loss to West Germany in the latter competition, he retired from the international scene aged 33.
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 Espanyol, both of which he helped promote to the top division.
In the summer of 1998, Camacho took over Real Madrid's first team, but left after only 22 days over disagreements with the club's management.
Camacho succeeded Javier Clemente as national team manager in September 1998, after a shock 3–2 loss in Cyprus in a Euro 2000 qualifier. The tide quickly turned under the new boss, who led the side to the final stages where they bowed out to eventual champions France in the quarter-finals.
Two years later, Camacho's 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.
Camacho returned to club action subsequently, being appointed at Benfica from Portugal on 1 December 2002 in the place of sacked Jesualdo Ferreira. Two years later, his team won the Taça de Portugal against José Mourinho-led Porto in extra-time, ending Benfica's longest silverware drought, as well as finishing second in the Primeira Liga.
A tough tackler in his playing days, Camacho also showed a human side when he cried profusely after Miklós Fehér died on the pitch, shortly after entering Benfica's match at Vitória de Guimarães.
Real Madrid and Benfica return
For the 2004–05 season, 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 3–0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, and a 1–0 league loss at Espanyol four days later also 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 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, he 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 ended with the national team's triumph as well), Camacho replaced José Ángel Ziganda at the helm of Osasuna on 13 October 2008.