Ex-Barca defender Alves has rape conviction quashed

Dani Alves, a former Barcelona and Brazil defender, has had her rape conviction overturned on appeal in Spain.

The 41-year-old’s appeals division unanimously accepted his appeal and acquitted him, claiming that the case against him had “consistences and contradictions.”

After being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, Alves was given a four and a half year prison sentence in February of that year.

While a higher court heard his appeal, the former full-back, who won 126 international caps, was freed on bail in March 2024.

The original court case’s ruling, according to the appeal court, “contains a number of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and contradictions regarding the facts, the legal assessment, and their consequences.”

Further, the court determined that the complainant’s claim that she feared that Alves’ friends might follow her did not seem reasonable.

Instead, the alleged victim “voluntarily entered the bathroom area to be with the defendant in a more intimate space.”

Alves’s entire restrictions, including a travel ban and a restraining order, were also lifted by the Catalan court. The Supreme Court can still hear the case, though.

Alves is very content, he says. That is evidence that he is innocent. His attorney, Ines Guardiola, reported to RAC1 radio that justice had spoken.

At the age of 38, Alves helped Brazil win two Copa Americas and an Olympic gold medal, while also having trophy-filled spells with Sevilla, Barcelona, Juventus, and Paris St-Germain.