José Antonio Camacho

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José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (born June 8, 1955 in the village of Cieza, Murcia) is a former Spanish football (soccer) player and manager.

Camacho joined Real Madrid at age 18, playing left defence between 1973 and 1989 and taking part in 400 First Division matches, in spite of a knee injury which put his career on hold for two years. He also played 81 games for the Spanish national team, taking part in two World Cups, in 1982 and 1986. Camacho also played in Euro 84 and Euro 88.

Following his retirement as a player in 1989, Camacho was part of the Real Madrid coaching team. He later went on to coach three more Spanish teams, two of which – Rayo Vallecano and RCD Espanyol – he took into the First Division. He also coached Real Madrid for a brief 22 days in 1998, but left over disagreements with the club's management.

Camacho took over from Javier Clemente as the coach for Spain's national football team in September 1998 after Spain were beaten 3-2 by Cyprus in a Euro 2000 qualifier. Honest, forthright and firm, he was a refreshing change from Clemente, who had an arrogant manner and mishandled the media.

The tide quickly turned under Camacho, who has signed up to coach the Spanish team up to the 2002 World Cup. Spain secured a spot at the 2000 European Championship, where Spain started off as one of the favourites (Spain reached the quarter finals, but was eliminated after a 2-1 defeat against, eventual winners and world champions, France).

Two years later, Camacho's team suffered an even bigger disappointment by losing out to South Korea on penalties in the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup. This led to his resignation of the national team which was taken over by Iñaki Sáez.

After that, Camacho was appointed the new coach of SL Benfica on November 29, 2002. He would replace Jesualdo Ferreira, who was sacked after a poor start of his team. Two years later, his team won the Portuguese Cup and the runners-up of the Portuguese SuperLiga.

Camacho went on to coach Real Madrid again, signing a two year contract after a disappointing forth-place finish in the 2003-2004 Spanish La Liga which led to the sacking of Carlos Queiroz. But things started to go wrong again, after his side suffered a 3-0 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League and had a 1-0 defeat at Espanyol four days later. Shortly after that he resigned and was replaced by his assistant Mariano García Remón.

Following Fernando Santos' mutual agreement termination of contract with Benfica, after a 1-1 away draw with Leixões SC on the first matchday, Camacho rejoined the club as manager/coach.

However, following a poor string of results, and claiming he was no longer able to motivate the team, Camacho announced he would leave Benfica minutes after drawing a home match against bottom-placed União de Leiria on 09/03/2008.

[edit] Managerial honours

[edit] S.L. Benfica

• SuperLiga Portuguesa
  • Runner-Up: 2002/2003, 2003/2004
• Taça de Portugal:
  • Winner: 2003/2004

Sporting positions
Preceded by José Mourinho	Cup of Portugal Winning Coach 2003-04	Succeeded by José Rachão

v • d • e Spain squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup 1 Arconada • 2 Camacho • 3 Gordillo • 4 Alonso • 5 Tendillo • 6 Alexanko • 7 Juanito • 8 Joaquín • 9 Satrústegui • 10 Zamora • 11 López Ufarte • 12 Urquiaga • 13 Jiménez • 14 Maceda • 15 Saura • 16 Sánchez • 17 Gallego • 18 Uralde • 19 Santillana • 20 Quini • 21 Urruti • 22 Miguel Ángel • Coach: Santamaría

v • d • e Spain squad - UEFA Euro 1984 Runners-up 1 Arconada • 2 Urquiaga • 3 Camacho • 4 Maceda • 5 Goikoetxea • 6 Gordillo • 7 Señor • 8 Víctor • 9 Santillana • 10 Gallego • 11 Carrasco • 12 Salva • 13 Buyo • 14 Moreno • 15 Roberto • 16 Francisco • 17 Alonso • 18 Butragueño • 19 Sarabia • 20 Zubizarreta • Coach: Muñoz

v • d • e Spain squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup 1 Zubizarreta • 2 Tomás • 3 Camacho • 4 Maceda • 5 Víctor • 6 Gordillo • 7 Señor • 8 Goikoetxea • 9 Butragueño • 10 Carrasco • 11 Julio Alberto • 12 Setién • 13 Urruti • 14 Gallego • 15 Chendo • 16 Rincón • 17 Francisco • 18 Calderé • 19 Salinas • 20 Eloy • 21 Míchel • 22 Ablanedo • Coach: Muñoz

v • d • e Spain squad - UEFA Euro 1988 1 Zubizarreta • 2 Reñones • 3 Camacho • 4 Andrinúa • 5 Víctor • 6 Calderé • 7 Salinas • 8 Sanchís • 9 Butragueño • 10 Eloy • 11 Gordillo • 12 Diego • 13 Buyo • 14 Gallego • 15 Eusebio • 16 Bakero • 17 Begiristain • 18 Soler • 19 Martín Vázquez • 20 Míchel • Coach: Muñoz

v • d • e Spain squad - UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares • 2 Salgado • 3 Aranzábal • 4 Guardiola • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro • 7 Helguera • 8 Fran • 9 Munitis • 10 Raúl • 11 Alfonso • 12 Sergi • 13 Casillas • 14 Gerard • 15 Engonga • 16 Mendieta • 17 Etxeberria • 18 Paco • 19 Velasco • 20 Urzaiz • 21 Valerón • 22 Molina • Coach: Camacho

v • d • e Spain squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Casillas • 2 Torres • 3 Juanfran • 4 Helguera • 5 Puyol • 6 Hierro • 7 Raúl • 8 Baraja • 9 Morientes • 10 Tristán • 11 de Pedro • 12 Luque • 13 Ricardo • 14 Albelda • 15 Romero • 16 Mendieta • 17 Valerón • 18 Sergio • 19 Xavi • 20 Nadal • 21 Luis Enrique • 22 Joaquín • 23 Contreras • Coach: Camacho