Brazilian football legend Socrates dies

04 December 2011 17:02

Former Brazil captain Socrates died Sunday aged 57 from an intestinal infection, a spokesperson for the Albert Einstein Hospital announced.

Socrates -- who in 1982 captained what is widely regarded as the best Brazil side never to have won the World Cup -- was taken to the hospital late Friday after suffering food poisoning.

The hospital said he had gone into septic shock and placed him on a ventilator and a dialysis machine but he was officially announced dead at 0630GMT.

He had already been hospitalised twice in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract, and recognised after these incidents that he had problems with alcohol, especially during his playing days.

A report in the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo claimed that Socrates would be buried later on Sunday in a private ceremony in the town of Ribeirao Preto, 300 kilometres outside Sao Paulo, where he began his playing career in 1974 for Botafogo.

The Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) also announced that there would be a minute's silence before all Sunday's matches in honour of 'one of the most brilliant players in the history of the Brazilian national side.'

Simon Clifford, who was responsible for in 2004 persuading Socrates to play a game for the English Yorkshire-based non league football side he owns Garforth Town, also paid his own tribute.

"Another sad weekend for football with the passing of our friend Socrates, wonderful player & principled man who stood by his values, RIP," tweeted Clifford.

In a recent television interview, Socrates said he had considered alcohol his "companion," adding that its regular use did not affect his performance on the soccer field.

"Alcohol did not affect my career, in part because I never had the physical build to play this game," he recalled.

"Soccer became my profession only when I was already 24," he said. "I was too thin, and when I was young, I did not have the opportunity to prepare myself physically for the sport."

Socrates also played in the 1986 World Cup but was not fully fit and is mainly remembered for missing a penalty in the quarter-final defeat by France.

At club level he played for Brazilian giants Corinthians (1978-84) and had an unhappy sojourn in Italy with Fiorentina (1984-85).

While at Corinthians he was one of the founders of a movement known as Corinthian Democracy, which formed in the 1980s.

Under its principles, all decisions made by football clubs, including the contracting of new players and training schedules, had to be approved by a vote of all members.

Source: AFP