Rebel United: Doctor, activist, genius - the legend of Brazilian icon Socrates

As a playmaker, Socrates controlled the game for both Corinthians and the Brazilian national team in the 1980s. He scored many goals and made beautiful passes, preferably with his heel. The great Pele is said to have once remarked that Socrates played better backwards than most footballers play forwards.

Blue shorts, yellow jersey, white headband, raised fist in celebration, shaggy hair and a beard like that of Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara – this is how the then not-yet-globalised football world got to know Socrates during his two World Cup appearances in 1982 and 1986. Despite their magical football, Brazil failed to progress beyond the early stages on both occasions, and along with Hungary in 1954 and the Netherlands in 1974, the 1982 Selecao are among the most memorable losers in World Cup history.

Socrates could have played in the 1978 World Cup. He was 24 years old at the time, but was unable to participate because he was pursuing his medical studies. 'Doctor Socrates' therefore only made his debut for the national team a year later. By then, he was already playing for Corinthians, which was soon to become one of the most exciting football projects in the world.

After sporting failures under an authoritarian club management, Waldemar Pires was elected the new president in early 1982, and he subsequently appointed the sociologist Adilson Monteiro Alves as sporting director. Together, they gave their players complete creative freedom.

At the time, Corinthians had a number of politically active players. Wladimir, who not only defended on the left side of the pitch but also the political spectrum; Walter Casagrande, whose political activities even landed him in prison for a short time; and above all Socrates, whose head resembled Guevara both inside and out. "I would like to be Cuban," he once said.

Socrates and his comrades created grassroots democratic structures at Corinthians. Players, coaches and officials voted by majority decision on all decisions, no matter how minor. Every opinion was sought for matters from new signings, sales, sackings and line-ups to training times and the canteen menu. At the same time, the rules of the so-called Concentracao, where players were locked in a hotel before matches, were relaxed.

The concept was dubbed 'Democracia Corinthiana'. However, this unique football club was not only concerned with internal matters, but also with the state of the nation. On their jerseys, Corinthians criticised the military dictatorship that had ruled Brazil since 1964 with slogans such as "Direct elections now" and "I want to elect the president". Socrates himself liked to wear white headbands with special messages: "People need justice," "Yes to love, no to terror," and "No violence".

Corinthians' unique democracy didn't detract from their performances on the pitch, though. In both 1982 and 1983, Corinthians won the prestigious Sao Paulo State Championship, while they narrowly missed out on the first national championship title in the club's history. Socrates himself was voted South American Footballer of the Year in 1983.

"There were many reasons for the success of our movement, but Socrates was one of the most important," fellow comrade Casagrande later told The Guardian. "We needed a genius like him, someone who was politically astute and admired. He was our shield. Without him, Democracia Corinthiana could not have existed."

But while the movement flourished quickly, it faded just as rapidly. At a rally in Sao Paulo in 1984, attended by an estimated two million people, Socrates declared that he would only stay in Brazil if there were direct elections for the Brazilian president. A constitutional amendment to this effect failed in parliament, and thus Socrates joined Fiorentina in Italy. When the dictatorship did eventually come to an end the following year, he returned to Brazil, first to Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, then to Santos.

Socrates made his last major appearance on the international stage at the 1986 World Cup as Brazil lost to France on penalties in the quarter-finals, with Socrates missing from the spot. He then ended his professional playing career in 1989 and went on to work as a paediatrician, though he did step out of retirement in 2004 to play one match for English non-league side Garforth Town as a 50-year-old.

Socrates died in 2011 at the age of just 57, his health ravaged by excessive alcohol and nicotine consumption. Shortly after his death, a documentary, 'Rebels on the Ball', was released, which featured Socrates and Democracia Corinthiana. The film was aptly presented by Eric Cantona, who, in a way, was Socrates' brother in spirit as another great football rebel.

"Brazil has lost one of its most cherished sons," said Brazil's then-president Dilma Rousseff in her farewell speech. "On the pitch, he was a genius. Off the pitch, he was politically active, concerned about his people and his country." But that is not the whole truth: Socrates was not only politically active off the pitch, but also on it , always concerned about his people and his country.