Dani Alves wins appeal against conviction as former Barcelona & Brazil defender sees initial four-and-a-half year jail sentence overturned by Spanish court

The Supreme Court in Catalunya has acquitted the 40-year-old, who has maintained his innocence since handing himself over to police in January 2023. He was taken into custody after allegations were made regarding events that supposedly took place at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.

Alves was initially convicted of rape and sentenced to time behind bars. It took over a year for the case to reach trial, leading to the former Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Pumas right-back spending 14 months in jail. He was originally denied bail, but has been living in the Catalan capital since posting a reported €1 million bond.

The prosecution had appealed against the original sentence, requesting nine years imprisonment and €150,000 in damages for the victim. Said appeal has been rejected, with Alves being cleared by the Supreme Court.

The three magistrates presiding over the case are said to have found "a series of gaps, imprecisions, inconsistencies and contradictions in the facts, judicial assessment and their consequences." With there "insufficient evidence" to rule out Alves’ presumption of evidence, the matter is now considered to be closed.