Sócrates

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This page is about the Brazilian football player. For the Portuguese prime minister, see José Sócrates. For other uses of Socrates, see Socrates (disambiguation).

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Personal information
Sócrates

Full name	Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira
Date of birth	February 19, 1954
Place of birth	Belém, Brazil
Nickname	Dr Soc^{[citation needed]}
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1974-1978 1978-1984 1984-1985 1986-1987 1988-1989 1989 2004	Botafogo-SP Corinthians Fiorentina Flamengo Santos FC Botafogo-SP Garforth Town	? (24) 302 (116) ? (6) 11 (3) ? (2) ? (?) 1 (0)
National team
1979-1986	Brazil	63 (25)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

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. 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). While a student in Ireland, Sócrates played for University College Dublin F.C. ^[1] His brother Raí won the World Cup in 1994 and played for São Paulo and for Paris St. Germain.

Sócrates in Fiorentina colours.

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.

[edit] Footnotes

^ [1], Guardian Unlimited Football Website. URL accessed March 16, 2007.

[edit] External links

Sócrates joins Garforth Town

Preceded by Zico	South American Footballer of the Year 1983	Succeeded by Enzo Francescoli

	Brazil squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Valdir Peres \| 2 Leandro \| 3 Oscar \| 4 Luizinho \| 5 Toninho Cerezo \| 6 Júnior \| 7 Paulo Isidoro \| 8 Sócrates \| 9 Serginho \| 10 Zico \| 11 Éder \| 12 Paulo Sérgio \| 13 Edevaldo \| 14 Juninho \| 15 Falcão \| 16 Edinho \| 17 Pedrinho \| 18 Batista \| 19 Renato \| 20 Roberto Dinamite \| 21 Dirceu \| 22 Carlos \| Coach: Santana

	Brazil squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Carlos \| 2 Edson \| 3 Oscar \| 4 Edinho \| 5 Falcão \| 6 Júnior \| 7 Müller \| 8 Casagrande \| 9 Careca \| 10 Zico \| 11 Edivaldo \| 12 Paulo Vitor \| 13 Josimar \| 14 Júlio César \| 15 Alemão \| 16 Mauro Galvão \| 17 Branco \| 18 Sócrates \| 19 Elzo \| 20 Silas \| 21 Valdo \| 22 Leão \| Coach: Santana