With many players coming from ordinary, working class backgrounds, soccer has always resonated with politics. Surprising however, is the number of players the game has produced who have actually gone on to pursue a Left wing path in political and social life. 

We all know the story of Socrates, the great Brazilina leftist/legendary soccer player. Now let's hear about Javier Zanetti, the only Argentinian to have led an Italian club team, the Serie A club Internazionale, for more than a decade in the 2000s. 

Known as "Pupi" in Argentina and "El Tractor" (The Tractor) in Italy, Zanetti earned several laurels--he holds the record of the most capped player in the history of the Argentine national team, having played in 1996 Olympic tournament, five Copa América tournaments and two World Cups, in 1998 and 2002. 

In Italy, Zanetti won honours including five Serie A and four Coppa Italia titles with Inter. The 2010 UEFA Champions League Final on 22 May 2010 was Zanetti's 700th game with Inter, and the team's victory on the night made him the only captain to win a treble with an Italian club. 

As a soccer player, Javier was always a `peoples man' having regard for fans, maintaining a level of neutrality, and adopting a leadership style that made him popular and "50% political". 

A family of Udinese supporters produced a banner for Zanetti that read “football without Zanetti is like the sun without stars“. He stood by his team-mates through thick and thin; but was quick to slam arrogant, groundless behavious. 

In April 2010 Zanetti had to overcome euphoria after defeating FC Barcelona 3-1 to condone Mario Balotelli’s full-time tantrum: “[I am] disappointed that a celebration was ruined with something like this. If the fans whistle at him he’s got to understand that it could depend on a lot of different things. We’ve always stood by him.”

For Zanetti, The fans and the public always came first. How is popularity moved effortlessly from Scoccer to politics is revealed by author Franklin Foer while talking of his visit to Milan in his book – `How Football Explains the World'. 

One starry night, Foer was taken to a bohemian, leftist culture club called Comuna Baires. Here, as he explains, sections of Inter’s inner-core host literary evenings with the team's foreign players. The following passage of Foer’s book is a gorgeous tribute to continental fandom (you should definitely invest in this, if you haven’t already) which inadvertently offers a real insight to Javier: 

Tommaso whispered to me, “I have to warn you. These people really are communists.” We walked out and he nudged me, nodding towards a framed picture of Che Guevara that stared at us from a wooden beam. The reading had been organised in the round and a row of men and women in tiny spectacles surrounded Zanetti…The theatre’s director emceed the evening. He praised the club for its “anti-Bush”, “Anti-Berlusconi”, “Anti-American” worldview. To justify this claim he cited the club’s long record of falling short of winning championships. In contrast to the ethic of American capitalism, Inter fans know that “things are more important than winning.” A parade of journalists and poets followed him to the mic, each paying tribute to Inter and Zanetti…Between speakers, the director handed Zanetti oil paintings that had been created in his honour.

Zanetti is not a communist. Is he a socialist? Probably not. What Foer provides is an insight into his early politics. To appease the complex thinking of the Inter ultras he was seen to empathise and be showered with praise and paintings from these intellectuals. What is poignant however is the “Anti-America” stance shown by the Inter supporters. Zanetti, when he supported the Zapatista’s in 2004, sympathised with their ethos.

The Zapatista Army of National Liberation have been around since 1994 but it wasn’t until Zanetti pledged his allegiance to their cause that they became famous. In 2001, the Easton Cowboys, a team that prides itself on sending amateur players to troubled communities, toured Mexico and visited the Zapatista’s to play a match, fielding an soon-to-be famous Banksy in goal who, whilst there, painted some social activism. The Zapatista’s alignment to football is understandable considering the wealth attached to the game. In Zanetti they found an ally. He drove Inter to donate money from fines and funded an ambulance, alongside pledging money for water and donating a #4 match shirt.

The Zapatista’s believe that globalization has negatively affected the lives of indigenous Mexican’s and are fighting a non-violent war against the Mexican state. They’re undoubtedly socialist. For Zanetti, the answer to calls of the Zapatista plea goes well beyond his duties and demonstrates fidelity to anti-globalisation: 

“We believe in a better world, in an unglobalised world, enriched by the cultural differences and customs of all the people. This is why we want to support you in this struggle to maintain your roots and fight for your ideals”.

Zanetti’s career has coincided with the strangled vine of commercialisation in football, and, especially, how the powers-that-be have capitalised on the advancements of globalisation. When Javier started his career in 1992 there was no Bosman Rule (or its implications for player-power), Rupert Murdoch was flirting with the FA, the Champions League had only just evolved from the European Cup and Nike were yet to involve themselves in the game. It’s safe to say football has changed before his eyes more radically in twenty years than it has done at any other point in its history.

Upon his retirement in the summer of 2014, Zanetti stopped playing and became a board-member for a club whose owner is an Indonesian, who also owns an MLS team, who recently said to the Financial Times: (October 2014) “I want to use the US model, where sport is like media business, with income from advertising and content, mixed with consumer goods industry, selling jerseys and licensed products.” Thohir’s figures indicate that 60% of Inter’s 280 million strong fan-base are Asian – a clear indication of the consumer-driven relationship between football and globalisation. The last five Supercoppa Italiana’s have even been played in China, with this season’s final to be staged in Doha. It’s difficult to imagine how inward-thinking Italians have coped with this transition, having their game sold to the world.

Similarly, Javier has previously spoken of his nostalgia for an unglobalised world. Perhaps this outlook comes from seeing the game he loves change beyond recognition. A humble man, when he was 16 he was released from Independiente and began working as an assistant bricklayer to his father. Through determination he fought to stay in the game, and it should surely be clear how much Zanetti genuinely loves football. Mourinho romantically waxed;

“To me Zanetti represents the joy of living, the joy of making football your job every morning. He is the smile, the life force, the passion for training, the good cheer for everyone who works with him.”

The professionalism, self-esteem and zest for football allowed Javier a long successful career. Life begins at forty. It will be interesting to see what the youthful Javier goes on to do from here; perhaps after all he could become the perfect politician his playing days indicated he would become.