SAO PAULO: Former Brazil World Cup captain Socrates died in hospital on Sunday At the age of 57, Brazilian media reported citing hospital sources.

Socrates had been in the Albert Einstein Israeli Hospital in Sao Paulo since Thursday when he was interned with food poisoning which developed into septic shock and had been on a life support machine, the daily O Estado said on its website.

It was the third time Socrates has been taken to hospital since August when he spent nine days there due to a digestive haemorrhage caused by excessive drinking.

Socrates, who played for Brazil at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, spent another 17 days in the hospital in September with liver trouble and had been recommended a transplant.

A qualified doctor whose full name was Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, he sprung to fame at Corinthians in the early 1980s.

The bearded, lanky Socrates, a leading player of his generation along with fellow Brazil midfielder Zico, he also played in Italy for Fiorentina.