(Reuters) – Brazil’s 1982 World Cup captain Socrates, the “Golden Heel” renowned as one of the great playmakers of his generation, died in a hospital Sunday of septic shock at the age of 57.
Socrates Brasileiro de Souza Viera de Oliveira, a lifelong smoker and drinker, had been on a life support system in a Sao Paulo hospital since Thursday when he was admitted suffering from food poisoning.
The captain of one of the greatest international sides to never win the World Cup, Socrates was a medical doctor, an intellectual, a cultural icon and a political activist who used his celebrity to fight for the end of Brazil’s 1964-1984 military government.
“Socrates was a buddy, a great friend, one of those figures football’s going to miss for everything he represented,” his former Brazil team mate Junior told Reuters by phone from his Rio de Janeiro home.
“Whoever shared life with him enjoyed the special person he was, intelligent, cultured, fun, a ball ace. He’s the kind of figure hard to find in football,” added the left-back from the 1982 and 1986 Brazil teams.
Socrates had been taken to hospital three times since August, when he spent nine days there due to a digestive haemorrhage caused by excessive drinking.
The former attacking midfielder, who played for Brazil at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, spent 17 days in the hospital in September with liver trouble and had been recommended for a transplant.
