Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves was found guilty Thursday of raping a woman in a nightclub in Barcelona and was sentenced by a Spanish court to four years and six months in prison.
Alves must also pay compensation of 150,000 euros ($162,000) to the victim, and will not be able to approach the woman's home or workplace, or contact her by any means, for nine years.
After the footballer heard his sentence in court, his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, announced that they will appeal the ruling.
The prosecutor's office said it will study it before considering a possible appeal.
A panel of three judges from the Provincial Court of Barcelona convicted the former defender of Futbol Club Barcelona and the Brazil national team for a sexual assault that occurred on December 31, 2022.
The victim said that Alves raped her in the bathroom of a luxury nightclub in the Catalan city in the early hours of December 31, 2022. The court considered it proven that she had not consented to the relationship and that there was evidence that she had been forced.
During the three-day trial earlier this month, Alves denied raping the woman, saying: “I'm not that kind of man.”
The prosecution requested a sentence of nine years in prison while the private prosecution demanded 12. The player's defense requested his acquittal or, if found guilty, a one-year sentence and compensation of 50,000 euros ($54,000). to the victim.
[Roxana Ruiz is sentenced to 6 years in prison in Mexico for killing the man who was going to rape her: “Now you are going to die,” he told her]
Alves has been in prison since his arrest on January 20, 2023. His requests for bail were rejected because the court considered him to be a flight risk.
Brazil does not extradite its citizens convicted abroad.
The victim told prosecutors that she danced with Alves and entered the club's bathroom of her own free will, but then she wanted to leave and he did not let her.
According to her version, the soccer player slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sexual relations against her will.
Alves modified his defense during the investigation phase of the case, when he was already detained.
At first he denied any sexual contact with the woman, and later admitted that they had relations that, according to him, were consensual.
The footballer pointed out that his initial refusal was intended to save his marriage.
The conviction breaks Alves' legacy as one of the most successful footballers in the world.
The winger has won dozens of major titles with several elite clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
He also helped Brazil win the Copa América twice and Olympic gold at age 38.
In 2022 he competed in his third World Cup, the only major title he has not won.
He played for Barcelona from 2008 to 2016 and briefly returned to the Blaugrana club in 2022. He still has a house near the city.
When he was arrested he was a member of the Mexican Pumas, which terminated his contract immediately.
This case has been the first high-profile sexual case tried in Spain since legislation was revised in 2022 to make consent, or the lack thereof, fundamental in the definition of a sexual assault following protests over a rape case. group during the San Fermín festivities, in Pamplona, in 2016.