Footballer Dani Alvis faces a long sentence for rape

One of the most high-profile trials related to sports began in Barcelona. Its central figure is the famous Brazilian football player Dani Alves, who is accused of rape. Given the details of the case, the player appears to be seriously facing a prison sentence of several years.

Yesterday, all leading Spanish media resources published photographs of a passenger in a police van dressed in a white shirt as he drove up to the Barcelona courthouse. This passenger was Dani Alves, who had arrived from Brians 2 prison to attend the first day of hearings in his high-profile criminal case.

He was arrested a little over a year ago, shortly after the Qatar World Championship, where, despite his advanced age (the athlete is now 40 years old), he was included in the Brazilian national team. At that championship, Dani Alvis dreamed of filling almost the only gap in his biography. This player is notable primarily for the rich collection of trophies that he managed to win in his life. He has 43 of them in total, and most sources consider Dani Alvis to be the football record holder for the number of prizes won. Among them were some very prestigious ones.

The peak of Dani Alves’s career occurred during that long period, from 2008 to 2016, when he played for Barcelona (already in the current decade, the Brazilian unexpectedly returned to it for several months). With the Catalan club, he won a total of six Spanish championships and three Champions Leagues. In addition, even before Barcelona he won the UEFA Cup with Sevilla, and after it he was the champion of Italy and France with Juventus and PSG. In the national team, Dani Alvis, a left back who constantly joined the attacks, won Copa America gold twice, and in 2021 he became an Olympic champion in Tokyo. The only thing missing was triumph at the main tournament. But things didn’t work out with him: in Qatar, the Brazilians lost to the Croats in the quarterfinals. And soon after that a scandal broke out.

Dani Alvis was arrested based on an incident that happened on December 30, 2022, that is, shortly after the end of the World Cup, in the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona, ​​almost the footballer’s hometown. The police relied on the testimony of a certain woman. According to her story, Dani Alves met her in a club after midnight, took her to the restroom and there, hitting and insulting her, raped her.

The footballer’s lawyers first tried to nullify this version with the help of recordings from video cameras installed in the club. In their opinion, they had to convince investigators that the woman herself was actively flirting with the celebrity, and therefore the sex was consensual. However, this approach did not appear to have worked, as the court explained in advance that flirting could not be considered a “justification for sexual assault.”

Obviously not in favor of Dani Alvis, with whom the Mexican club UNAM, whose player he was at the time of the emergency, terminated his contract, other details also speak. For example, he repeatedly changed his testimony, at first even denying any sexual contact with a nightclub visitor. Later, having admitted it, Dani Alvis said that he simply wanted to save his marriage with a lie.

In terms of volume, the scandal is comparable to the one that also erupted in Spain last year. In it, the president of the country’s football federation (RFEF), Luis Rubiales, found himself in the role of the accused, who kissed football player Jennifer Hermoso: she considered the kiss a form of harassment. The functionary eventually parted with all his posts. But for Dani Alvis, the consequences, naturally, can be much more serious.

The prosecutor’s office demanded nine years in prison for him (along with a fine of €150 thousand), representatives of the alleged victim (her interests are defended by Esther Garcia, a well-known lawyer in Spain specializing specifically in crimes of a sexual nature) – twelve. According to Spanish laws, you can spend up to 15 years in prison for rape. The trial, which will feature 28 witnesses, is scheduled to end on Wednesday.

Alexey Dospehov