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.

[1] 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.

[12] 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.

[13] 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.

[17] 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.

Camacho was also in charge as a Chinese young squad lost 8–0 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.

[29][30] Camacho was appointed as Gabon manager 43 days before the start of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations which was to take place in that country, replacing Jorge Costa.