Top 5 bearded footballers to blend style with substance

Socrates

It would be entirely unpardonable and unbecoming of any discussion featuring bearded geniuses to be complete without the mention of perhaps the coolest beard of them all.

Not too surprisingly, the man who sported it happened to be one of the coolest ever chaps to kick a football around the ground.

Instantly recognizable from his beard and headband, Socrates became the “symbol of cool for a whole generation of football supporters” in the late seventies and early eighties.

A brilliant playmaker known for his superb through passes and on-field vision, Socrates was an imposing physical presence at 6’4” and is arguably the greatest player to have never won the World Cup till date while playing for the greatest team to have never won the World Cup!

Being a two-footed player, he was a prolific goal-scorer. But it doesn’t stop there.

Socrates was also a qualified doctor, a rare achievement for a professional footballer. The Brazilian great was many other things too besides being a footballer – an intellectual, an activist, a columnist – with an equally deep love for cigarettes and alcohol.

It would be safe to say that Socrates was not your stereotypical footballer.