José Antonio Camacho

José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (born 8 June 1955) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a left back, and the current manager of Gabon.
He played for 15 professional years with Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official games 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.

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 on 3 March 1974 as he played the full 90 minutes in a 01 away loss against CD Málaga.

During his spell with Real Madrid, Camacho appeared in nearly 600 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 also played 81 games for the Spanish national team, making his first appearance at not yet 20. 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 – 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.

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 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.

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 the new boss, who led the side to the final stages, where it 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.

Benfica

Camacho returned to club action subsequently, being appointed at S.L. Benfica from Portugal on 29 November 2002 in the place of sacked Jesualdo Ferreira. Two years later, his team won the Taça de Portugal against José Mourinho-led FC Porto in extra-time, 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

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 0–3 defeat at Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the campaign'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, he announced he would leave the club, minutes after drawing a home match against bottom-placed U.D. Leiria on 9 March 2008.

Osasuna

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. The club eventually finished in ninth position.

Chinese national team

On 13 August 2011, Camacho took over the reins of the Chinese national team, signing a three-year deal for a reported annual salary of US$8 million. The Chinese Football Association head Wei Di explained the decision as being part of a long-term plan to help the country catch up with Japan and South Korea. He noted that, "Compared with our neighbours Japan and South Korea, Chinese football is lagging far behind, we need to work with a long-term view and start to catch up with a pragmatic approach. A lot of our fans expect China to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil. They are afraid that changing the coach at the last moment may cause bad effect to the team's qualifying prospect. I can totally understand that. But we do not have any time to waste."

Chinese Soccer Administrative Centre vice-president Yu Hongchen added: "The qualifying stage of 2014 World Cup is just a temporary task for him. Even if the task is failed, Camacho will not lose the job. When we started to find a new coach for the national team, we mainly focus on European countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. First of all, they have advanced football concepts, and secondly they have a productive youth training system, which we can learn from. We hope he can help us to find a suitable style."

However, China failed to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, after only finishing third in the third qualifying round with three wins and three losses. Camacho was also in charge as a Chinese young squad lost 0–8 to Brazil on 10 September 2012 in a friendly match, the national team's worst-ever defeat which also meant the drop to an all-time low 109th position in the FIFA World Rankings.

In the first game of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign, Camacho and China lost 1–2 against Saudi Arabia. Following a 1–5 shock friendly loss to Thailand on 15 June 2013, he was relieved of his duties.

One reason cited for Camacho's shortcomings in Asia was the limitation of football boots. The Chinese FA ordered that all the national team players were to wear Adidas, whilst most players in the Chinese Super League wore Nike, thus creating discomfort.

Gabon national team

Camacho was appointed as the Gabon national team manager 43 days before the start of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, replacing Jorge Costa.

Player

Club

Real Madrid

• UEFA Cup: 1984–85, 1985–86
• La Liga: 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89
• Copa del Rey: 1973–74, 1974–75, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1988–89
• Copa de la Liga: 1984–85
• Supercopa de España: 1988, 1989

Spain

• UEFA European Championship: Runner-up 1984

Manager

Benfica

• Taça de Portugal: 2003–04