José Luis Pérez Caminero (born 8 November 1967) is a Spanish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Arguably one of the best Spanish footballers of the 1990s, Caminero was able to play in any midfield position, in the middle or in the

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

. Having played 408

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

matches over 14 seasons (57 goals), he possessed a vast array of skills: dribble, shot and physique, and his career was almost exclusively associated with

Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peop ...

and Atlético Madrid. Caminero represented

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

and

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, scoring in both tournaments.

Club career

After unsuccessfully emerging through the ranks of Real Madrid,

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

-born Caminero signed with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club c ...

for 1989–90, helping the side barely avoid

relegation. He scored his first goal in the competition the next season, in a 3–1 home win against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

on 16 December 1990. The peak of Caminero's career took place from 1993–94, when he moved to Atlético Madrid. He was a key member of the squad that won an historical

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

in 1995–96, contributing nine league goals in 37 games; accordingly, after the season, he was given the Spanish Footballer of the Year award by both the

newspaper '' El País'' and the prestigious football magazine '' Don Balón'', being the only Atlético player to win both awards the same year, and netted a career-best 14 goals the following campaign. Caminero re-joined Valladolid at age 30, ending his career in 2004 after the team's top-flight relegation. In his final years, he further enhanced his versatility by playing in the sweeper position. After his retirement, Caminero was installed as the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. He left the position citing personal reasons after 2007–08. In May 2011 he returned to Atlético, joining Málaga CF seven years later still in that capacity.

International career

Caminero made his Spain national team debut on 8 September 1993, in a 2–0 friendly win with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

. He represented the country at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

in the United States, where he was the nation's leading scorer at three (scoring twice against Bolivia in a 3–1 group stage victory) and also in

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

in England, where he netted a late equaliser against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Caminero totalled eight goals in 21

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

, and his last appearance was against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in Euro '96, a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

loss.

Arrest

In June 2009, Caminero was arrested for possible connections to drug traffic operations, with a further 30 people being taken into custody for interrogation. He was released upon the reading of his rights.

In popular culture

Caminero's football genius also made it to the

silver screen A silver screen, also known as a silver lenticular screen, is a type of projection screen that was popular in the early years of the motion picture industry and passed into popular usage as a metonym for the cinema industry. The term silver scree ...

. Spanish movie director

Pedro Almodóvar Pedro Almodóvar Caballero (; (often known simply as Almodóvar) born 25 September 1949) is a Spanish filmmaker. His films are marked by melodrama, irreverent humour, bold colour, glossy décor, quotations from popular culture, and complex narra ...

included his dribbling against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

's defender

Miguel Ángel Nadal Miguel Ángel Nadal Homar (, ca, Miquel Àngel Nadal Homar; born 28 July 1966) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a versatile defender and midfielder. He began and ended his career with Mallorca, but his greatest achievements cam ...

in his 1997 film ''Live Flesh'' (''

Carne trémula ''Live Flesh'' ( es, Carne trémula, links=no) is a 1997 erotic romantic drama thriller film, written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Javier Bardem and Francesca Neri. The film is loosely based on the 1986 book of the same name by Brit ...

'').

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Caminero goal.''

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

: 1995–96 *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: 1995–96 Individual * Spanish Player of the Year: 1996

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caminero, Jose Luis 1967 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Madrid Association football defenders Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Valladolid players Atlético Madrid footballers Spain international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Atlético Madrid non-playing staff Real Valladolid non-playing staff