Socrates, the late Brazilian midfield supremo was a doctor of medicine and philosophy.

Tostao, one of the socerers in the World Cup winning team of 1970, qualified as an eye specialist. Hugo Sanchez, who scored profusely for Real Madrid and Mexico in the 80s, is a dentist. Football is not known for producing such in abundance. But then, a few others have tried, successfully, to conduct marriages between the game and academics. YOUTH.COM presents such “footballectuals.”

ALESSANDRO DEL PIERO

The former Juventus striker, who recently secured new employment in Australia’s A-League, is quite the accomplished fellow. Along with three awards for “gentlemanly conduct“, he has appeared on stage with both The Rolling Stones and Oasis, even featuring in a music video with the latter. Del Piero is more than rock and roll, as he also has a degree in Accounting from Italy’s University of Urbino

FILIPO INZAGHI

The recently retired Italian striker bagged goals aplenty–and also bagged a degree. He is the record goalscorer in European competition with 62 goals, including a phenomenal 41 from 49 Champions League appearances. Two of those Champions League goals in the 2007 final of the competition helped AC Milan atone for the 2005 defeat to Liverpool.

“As a kid, I was lively, cunning and determined. And mad for football, of course. I was born with a ball in my head. I studied just to make my mum and dad proud the result was a a diploma in accountancy,” he once told an interviewer.

ANTONIO NUNEZ

Wondering who the heck he is? Even Liverpool fans will struggle to remember him. Well, he was Rafa Benitez’s second signing, when he arrived from Real Madrid in 2004. Nunez, who currently plays for Huesca in the Spanish second division, was one of the unused substitutes when Liverpool implausibly defeated AC Milan in the final of the 2005 UEFA Champions League, earning a winner’s medal. Nunez, a right-sided midfielder, had bagged a degree in Law before coming to Liverpool. That will provide a fall-back position when his less than illustrious career ends.

SEYI OLOFINJANNA

The former Nigerian international midfielder played for Wolves, Stoke, Hull City and Cardiff. He holds a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and later signed for a programme in Sub-sea Engineering, which he hopes will make him eligible to work with an offshore oil exploration team after his football career.

“Maybe if I was born in England, I would not have tried to take degrees. But back home, things are not very rosy and even though I could play football, I needed something to fall back on. Football is not forever. At 35, you retire and I want something to have another career,” he once told Daily Mail. Some insurance policy.

STEVE HARPER

Famously or infamously chipped by Xabi Alonso from behind the halfway. Injury has curtailed the progress of the goalkeeper, who is also famous for playing understudy to the excellent Shay Given when he was at Newcastle. Harper is not a graduate yet, but he is studying for a degree in Social Sciences at the Open University.

SHAKA HISLOP

The former West Ham and Newcastle goalkeeper has started a second career–in punditry. He appears on ESPN, talking, as you would have guessed, football. The man from Trinidad and Tobago earned a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Howard University in Washington DC. Shaka, whose first name is Neil, spent time as an intern at NASA. Not an unstellar...www.youthng.com