O Doutor

The doctor who prescribed democracy

From the editor

Why we keep Saturdays

Every Saturday at three o'clock, the same service begins in a hundred thousand places at once. This magazine is our way of keeping it — one edition a month, published on the first Saturday, with room to say something properly.

Issue 001 belongs to Sócrates. Beauty comes first. Victory is secondary. What matters is joy — nobody lived that creed harder than the doctor.

From the Sócrates 82 series

Cover story

The doctor will see you now

Sócrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira was born in Belém, Pará, on 19 February 1954, and became exactly what the name promised: a thinker who happened to play football. He qualified in medicine in 1977 at Ribeirão Preto — his club excused him from training so he could study — then captained the Brazil of 1982, the most beautiful team never to win a World Cup.

He played standing up straight, all blind back-heels and raised fists, a number eight built like a question mark. At Sarrià in July 1982, his Brazil went out 3-2 to Italy in a game football has never stopped mourning — and somehow the losers came out immortal.

Read the full profile at /icons/socrates.

He was more than a footballer. He was a thinker, a leader, a rebel.

— From the Sócrates 82 series

Democracia Corinthiana

One player, one vote

Between 1982 and 1984, while Brazil lived under military rule, Sócrates and his Corinthians teammates ran their club by show of hands. Everything — signings, schedules, whether the squad concentração was even necessary — was put to a vote. One player, one vote; the kit man counted the same as the captain.

They called it Democracia Corinthiana, wore its name on their shirts, and won two state championships while practising it. In a country campaigning for direct elections, a football team became the argument: it works, look.

He died on 4 December 2011 — a weekend Corinthians won the title. Even his ending had timing.

The series