Dani Alves Wins Appeal As Spanish Court Overturns His Rape Conviction

Former Brazil and Barcelona defender Dani Alves has won his appeal against a sexual assault conviction after a Spanish court overturned the ruling on Friday.

Alves, 40, had been sentenced in February 2024 to four years and six months in prison after being found guilty of assaulting a woman at a Barcelona nightclub on New Year’s Eve in 2022.

The football denied the allegations throughout the trial.

In March 2024, he was released from prison while awaiting the outcome of his appeal.

On Friday, the higher court ruled in his favor, stating that there was “insufficient evidence” to dismiss his presumption of innocence.

Alves, a highly decorated footballer, has won numerous titles with top clubs such as Barcelona, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain.

He also played a key role in Brazil’s victories at two Copa America tournaments and won Olympic gold at 38. He participated in his third World Cup in 2022, the only major title missing from his career.

At the time of his arrest, he was playing for Mexican club Pumas, which swiftly terminated his contract.

His case was the first high-profile trial under Spain’s updated sexual consent laws, known as the “only yes means yes” law, which redefined consent as an explicit and affirmative expression of a person’s will.

The law was introduced in response to public outrage over a gang-rape case at the San Fermin festival in 2016.

The appeals court in Barcelona, composed of four judges, ruled unanimously to overturn Alves’ conviction.

They noted that the woman’s testimony “differed notably” from video evidence recorded before she and Dani Alves entered the bathroom, where she alleged he assaulted her.

Meanwhile, 18-year-old Chinese footballer, Guo Jiaxuan has died after suffering a severe head injury during a training session in Spain.