Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira,
MD , simply
Sócrates, was a Brazilian
footballer who played as an
attacking midfielder died from septic shock he was 57.. He was also a qualified
doctor.
He played for
Botafogo-SP before joining
Corinthians in 1978. He then moved to Italy to play for
Fiorentina, returning to Brazil in 1985 to end his career.
(19 February 1954 – 4 December 2011)
Sócrates was a technical playmaker, known for great through passes
and his vision on the field, as well as his physical strength. He was
also a two-footed player and a prolific goal scorer. His ability to read
the game was highly valued, and his signature move was the blind heel
pass.
[2] He was considered to be one of the greatest midfielders ever to play the game.
[3] Easily recognizable for his beard and headband, he became the "symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters".
[4]
Sócrates played for
Brazil during seven years, scoring more than 20 goals and representing the nation in two
World Cups,
captaining the team in the
1982 edition; he also appeared in the
1979 and
1983 Copa América tournaments, and was named
South American Footballer of the Year in 1983, being selected to
Pelé's
FIFA 100 list in 2004.
Playing career
Club career
Sócrates was born in
Belém do Pará.
[4] He began playing football professionally in 1974 for
Botafogo-SP in his native
Ribeirão Preto, but spent the majority of his career (1978 to 1984) with
Corinthians, scoring 41 goals in 59
Série A games, and 172 goals in 297 matches in total.
[5]
In
1984–85, aged 30, Sócrates had his first experience abroad, playing in
Serie A with
Fiorentina. He returned to his country after that sole season, representing
Flamengo,
Santos and former club Botafogo-SP, and retiring in 1989.
[5]
In 2004, more than a decade after retiring, 50-year-old Sócrates agreed to a one month player-coaching deal with
Garforth Town of the
Northern Counties East Football League in England.
[6] He made his only appearance for the club on 20 November, against
Tadcaster Albion, coming on as a
substitute twelve minutes from time.
[7]
International career
Sócrates was capped 60 times for
Brazil between May 1979 and June 1986, scoring 22 goals.
[7] He
captained the national team at the
1982 FIFA World Cup, and also appeared in the
1986 World Cup in
Mexico.
[5] In the latter edition, he scored twice, starting with the game's only goal against
Spain in the group stage.
[8] he added another in the
round-of-16 4–0 win over
Poland, shooting his
penalty kick without running; in the following game, against
France, he tried to convert it in the same fashion, but had his
shootout attempt saved by
goalkeeper Joël Bats.
[9]
Sócrates also represented the country at the
1979 and
1983 Copa América tournaments. In the latter he appeared in only one game, the second leg of
the final against
Uruguay (1–1 home draw, 1–3 aggregate loss).
[10]
Statistics
Club
[11][12][13]
Brazil
[11]
| Brazil national team |
| Year |
Apps |
Goals |
| 1979 |
6 |
5 |
| 1980 |
8 |
2 |
| 1981 |
15 |
6 |
| 1982 |
9 |
4 |
| 1983 |
8 |
2 |
| 1984 |
0 |
0 |
| 1985 |
5 |
1 |
| 1986 |
9 |
2 |
| Total |
60 |
22 |
Honours
- Botafogo-SP
- Corinthians
- Flamengo
- Brazil
|
- Individual
|
Personal life
Sócrates lived in Ribeirão Preto with his wife and six children. He
was a columnist for a number of newspapers and magazines, writing not
only about sports, but also politics and economics. He frequently
appeared on Brazilian TV programmes as a football pundit. At the time of
his death, Sócrates was writing a fiction book about the 2014 World Cup
in Brazil.
[14]
Sócrates was a
doctor of medicine, a rare achievement for a professional footballer (he was a graduate of the
Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto).
[15] Even rarer is the fact that he earned the degree while concurrently playing professional
football. After retiring as a player he practised medicine at
Ribeirão Preto.
[4]
He was also noted for being an intellectual, a heavy drinker and a smoker.
[9] His younger brother
Raí was also a footballer and an attacking midfielder, being a member of the Brazilian team that won the World Cup in
1994, notably playing for
São Paulo and for
Paris Saint-Germain.
[16][17][18]
Politics
During his time at Corinthians, Sócrates co-founded the
Corinthians Democracy movement, in opposition to the then-ruling
military government.
Sócrates and his team mates protested against the regime's treatment of
footballers, and showed support to the wider movement for
democratisation, by wearing shirts with "Democracia" written on them during games.
[19] Sócrates has stated that three of his childhood heroes were
Fidel Castro,
Che Guevara and
John Lennon.
[20] "
Lula was good, he said, but earned a mere seven or so out of ten for how he had governed Brazil."
[21]
Legacy and death
Pelé named Sócrates as one of the
Top 125 Living Footballers in March 2004 and
World Soccer named him one of
100 best footballers in history. In October 2008, he was inducted into the
Pacaembu Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame.
On 19 August 2011, Sócrates was admitted to intensive care in the
Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo with
gastrointestinal bleeding secondary to
portal hypertension and was discharged nine days later.
[22] The following month he spent 17 days in hospital with a liver ailment.
[23] On 1 December 2011, he was hospitalised with food poisoning which developed into
septic shock and he was put on life-support.
[24] He died on 4 December 2011 at the age of 57.
[25] He was survived by his wife and six children.
[26]
President of Brazil,
Dilma Rousseff,
paid tribute, saying Brazil had lost "one of its most cherished sons".
"On the field, with his talent and sophisticated touches, he was a
genius. Off the field... he was active politically, concerned with his
people and his country."
[3]
Corinthians fans held up signs in tribute and there was a moment of
silence before the team's match against Palmeiras (a 0–0 draw which
secured Corinthians their first Brazilian title for six years).
[3] Fiorentina held a minute's silence before their league match against
Roma, and the players wore black armbands in tribute.
[3]
Former Brazil striker
Ronaldo tweeted: "Sad start to the day. Rest in peace Dr. Socrates."
[3] Zico called him "unique".
[3] Italy's
Paolo Rossi described the death as "a piece of our history that's broken off and gone away".
[3] Garforth chairman Simon Clifford paid tribute to the "great grace" of Sócrates.
[1]
Myths
There is a persistent myth that Sócrates studied medicine in Dublin,
Ireland, and that during this time he played reserve football for
University College Dublin
The rumour gained some credibility following articles in several
newspapers apparently confirming it, in one case even citing a
confirmation by a named source within the
Football Association of Ireland.
[27][28] The story is, however, untrue, and has been debunked in other newspaper articles,
[29][30][31] and denied by the Dublin college.
[32]
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