A part of the famous La Quinta del Buitre which stemmed from the Real Madrid youth academy, he was the only of its five members to spend his entire career with the club.

[2][3][4] Sanchís appeared in more than 700 competitive matches for his only club, and represented the national team in one World Cup and one European Championship.

In 1999–2000 he featured sparingly, but still helped to their eighth European Cup, playing 11 minutes in the final against fellow Spanish side Valencia CF in a 3–0 win.

[4][5][6] Sanchís retired in 2001 at the age of 36, having played 710 official games for his only club – 523 of those in the league – while also captaining it for 13 years.

[10] An aggressive yet fair player,[11] he was also noted for his tactical intelligence and positional sense, and usually played as a sweeper.