Camacho is seen at Beijing Capital International Airport, Aug 13, 2011. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - Spaniard Jose Antonio Camacho formally took over as coach of China's national men's soccer team on Sunday. The following is a profile of the Spanish coach.

Camacho, who was born in Murcia, Spain on June 8, 1955, started his playing career at the age of 18 in the Spanish giants Real Madrid in 1973, after two years of youth football in Albacete.

During his 16 seasons in Real, the hard-tackling left-sided defender featured in more than 400 first division league matches and won nine Spanish league titles, three Spanish Cups, one Spanish Super Cup and two UEFA Cups.

He also earned 81 international caps for Spain and competed in 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups.

Camacho retired from the international scene at the age of 33 in 1988 and ended his playing career a year later to become part of Real's youth team coaching staff.

With experiences as assisting coach in Real, Camacho started his coaching career as he joined second division Rayo Vallecano in 1991,winning promotion to the top flight in his debut season. And two years later he repeated the feat in Espanyol, guiding the second division side to immediate promotion to the top flight.

After an unsuccessful season in Sevilla and Espanyol, Camacho took over Real Madrid in 1998 but was sacked 23 days later.

He succeeded Javier Clemente as national team coach in September 1998 and led Spain in the 2002 FIFA World Cup before the quarterfinal defeat which is marred by controversial refereeing.

He resigned after the World Cup and was appointed coach of Portuguese side Benfica, winning a Portuguese Cup title and finishing second behind Jose Mourinho's Porto.

Camacho returned to Real Madrid on a two-year contract in May 2004, and resigned in September for poor results.

Then he returned to Benfica in 2007 and again resigned in March 2008 after a string of poor performances.

From October 2008 to February 2011, Camacho worked as coach of Spanish side Osasuna, with the 15th ranking in 2008/2009 season being the best finish.

He had been working as TV commentator after Ossasua departure, before finally took over the helm of China.