Sócrates

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira (born February 19, 1954), more commonly known simply as Sócrates, is a Brazilian former football player. His ability to read the game was highly valued, but his touch on the ball was impeccable as well. His signature was the blind heel pass. Sócrates is a doctor of medicine, a rare achievement for a professional soccer player (another famous Brazilian player, Tostão, was also a physician). He is also noted for being an intellectual,(he holds a doctorate degree in Philosophy) a heavy drinker and smoker, and for his height (192 cm, 6 ft 4 in). His brother Raí won the World Cup in 1994 and played for São Paulo and for Paris St. Germain.

As one of the best midfielders in football history, Sócrates played for, and captained, Brazil in the 1982 and 1986 FIFA World Cups. He began playing football professionally in 1974 for Botafogo in his hometown of Riberão Preto in São Paulo state, but spent the majority of his career (1978 to 1984) with Corinthians in São Paulo, where he became famous for using football to challenge the existing military dictatorship. He was capped sixty times for Brazil between May 1979 and June 1986. Sócrates also played for the Italian club Fiorentina and the Brazilian clubs Flamengo and Santos towards the end of his career. In 2004, more than a decade after retiring, Sócrates agreed a one month player-coaching deal with Garforth Town Football Club of the Northern Counties East Football League in England.

Pelé named him in his Top 125 Living Footballers in March 2004.

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