José Antonio Camacho

Football player infobox
playername = José Antonio Camacho


fullname = José Antonio Camacho Alfaro
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1955|6|8
cityofbirth = Cieza
countryofbirth = Spain
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Left-Back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1973–1989
clubs = Real Madrid
caps(goals) = 414 (9)
nationalyears = 1974–1988
nationalteams = flagicon|ESP Spain
nationalcaps(goals) = 81 (0)
manageryears = 1992–1993
1994–1996
1996–1997
1997–1998
1998–2002
2002–2004
2004–2005
2007–2008
managerclubs = Rayo Vallecano
RCD Espanyol
Sevilla FC
RCD Espanyol
Spain
SL Benfica
Real Madrid
SL Benfica

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 replaced 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 fourth-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.

He recently was a co-commentator on Spanish TV network Cuatro, during the Euro 2008 championships. During their 1-0 win over Germany in the final, he shouted "Goal!" just before Fernando Torres scored, which seen Spain become champions for the first time since 1964.

Managerial honours

.L. Benfica

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