Sky Sports

Former Barcelona and Brazilian footballer Dani Alves has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty of sexual assault.

Catalonia’s top court found him guilty of sexually assaulting a woman at an upscale Barcelona nightclub early on New Years Eve in 2022.

The victim said Alves raped her in a bathroom. He was also ordered to pay 150,000 euros (£128,479.50) to the victim by the court.

The 40-year-old ex-right-back was arrested in January 2023. He has been detained since then and had requests for bail denied as the court considered him a flight risk.

The Brazilian Federal Constitution guarantees that no Brazilian citizen can be extradited by the country.

State prosecutors were told by the victim that on the night of the assault, she danced with Alves and willingly entered the nightclub bathroom, but when she later wanted to leave he would not let her.

She said he then slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sexual relations against her will.

Alves denied any wrongdoing during the trial, telling the court: “I am not that kind of man.”

As the case was being investigated, Alves said while in custody that he did not have any sexual contact with her.

He later admitted to having sexual relations with the victim but said that they were consensual. He said he had been trying to save his marriage by not admitting to the encounter initially.

During the trial, Alves’ defense focused on trying to show that he was drunk when he met the woman.

Alves won dozens of titles with elite clubs including Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.

He also helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal at age 38. He played at his third World Cup, the only major title he has not won, in 2022.

He was with Mexican club Pumas when he was arrested. Pumas terminated his contract immediately.

The Alves case was the first high-profile sex crime since Spain overhauled its legislation in 2022 to make consent, or the lack thereof, central to defining a sex crime in response to an upswell of protests after a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016.