Former Barcelona and Sevilla defender Dani Alves has received a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for sexual assault, according to a ruling by a Barcelona court this morning.
Alves faced trial after being taken into custody in January 2023, following an incident in a Barcelona nightclub on December 30th. The victim accused Alves, arrested in January 2023, of raping her in a bathroom.
The Brazilian, a former Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain defender, was also ordered to pay €150,000 to the victim by the court. Throughout the trial, Alves maintained his innocence, claiming in court that the encounter was consensual, contrasting with the victim’s description of non-consensual sex in the bathroom.
The court did not accept Alves’ version of events but handed down a sentence that was half of the nine years pursued by the public prosecutor and less than half of the victim’s desired maximum 12-year sentence. The minimum sentence for sexual violence is four years.
The defense argued that Alves’ intoxication should be considered a mitigating factor in the incident. Having already served a year of his sentence in custody, Alves is theoretically set to be released in July 2028.
