Barcelona court allows convicted footballer Dani Alves out on €1 million bail

A Barcelona court has ruled that former Brazilian international soccer player Dani Alves could be conditionally released from prison on a bail of $1.08 million (one million euros) following his conviction last month for sexual assault, the court press office said in a statement Wednesday.

The Barcelona provincial court sentenced Alves on February 22 to four-and-a-half years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in one of the city’s nightclubs in late December 2022.

In the court’s 13-page ruling on the bail, viewed by CNN, the court noted that Alves has already served 14 months in prison, including in pre-trial detention since his arrest in Barcelona in January 2023, and more recently, since his conviction.

Alves’ lawyer has announced an appeal of the conviction and the sentence. The court specified that if Alves pays the $1.08 million bail, he must then surrender his Spanish and Brazilian passports and report weekly to the court.

Additionally, the court ruled that Alves could not approach closer than a kilometer (roughly 0.6 miles) to the victim or have any communication with her.

Two judges approved the bail ruling, while a third judge dissented, and the decision can be appealed, according to the court statement.

Efforts to reach lawyers for Alves and the victim for comment were unsuccessful at the time of reporting.

Alves, aged 40, boasts an illustrious soccer career, winning domestic titles in Spain, Italy, and France, as well as three Champions League titles with Barcelona and the Copa América with Brazil.

In the 61-page sentence from Alves’ trial, the three-judge panel stated that they “considered proven that the accused abruptly grabbed the plaintiff, threw her to the floor, and prevented her from moving” to carry out the sexual assault in December 2022, despite the plaintiff expressing her desire to leave. Alves maintained during the trial that the sexual relations were consensual.