Report: Brazil great Socrates, 57, dies

TRAGIC SPORTS DEATHS

Sports has lost many athletes way too soon. We list a few.

Legendary Brazilian soccer captain Socrates died Sunday at the age of 57 after suffering an intestinal infection.

The star of the 1982 World Cup was rushed to Sao Paulo's Albert Einstein Hospital late Thursday after suffering food poisoning and was said to be in critical condition in its intensive care unit Saturday.

Despite briefly responding to a stronger antibiotic, Socrates died early Sunday, O Globo reported.

Socrates' wife and a friend of the couple also got sick after eating the stroganoff, but the former midfield maestro's body was said to be too weak to fight the illness after years of alcohol abuse.

He was hospitalized twice in August and September this year with bleeding in his digestive tract and later admitted that he had problems with alcohol, dating back to his illustrious playing days.

Socrates, whose full name was Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, spent his entire club-playing career in Brazil, bar a single season with Italian club Fiorentina in 1984-85.

He rose to international prominence as the tall bearded playmaker who lit up the 1982 World Cup in Spain, despite Brazil's shock exit ahead of the semi-finals.

Socrates graduated as a medical student during his early playing days and practiced after his career ended in 1989.

Regarded as an intellectual thinker, he also wrote widely about sport and culture later in life.