Former Brazil and Barcelona footballer Dani Alves denies raping a woman in a nightclub, who is his 'wife'?

The former Brazil and Barcelona footballer Dani Alves has denied raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022. The 40-year old was arrested in January last year and has been in prison without bail since then. On the last day of his trial in Barcelona, Spain, Dani Alves told the court that “If she wanted to leave, she could have left, she was not obligated to be there.” He also added that the woman “at no time” asked to leave.

As well as financial compensation, prosecutors are calling for a nine-year jail sentence for Dani Alves. Alves has repeatedly denied the charges against him accusing him of alleged raping a 23-year old woman at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on December 30, 2022. The most prominent witnesses who took to the stand were Bruno Brasil, the friend who was with Alves on the night in question, and his ‘ex’ Joana Sanz. who reportedly filed for divorce from the footballer last year. 

In 2017, Dani Alves married fashion model Joana Sanz in a secret Ibiza wedding - the couple were introduced by a mutual friend. Joana Sanz has previously modelled for the likes of Jimmy Choo and appeared in fashion magazines such as Elle. According to reports, Dani had to propose to Joana three times before she accepted. Dani Alves was previously married to Dinora Santana; the couple divorced in 2011 and share two children together, Daniel and Vitoria. Dinora Santana runs Germany-based Kick & Run Sports Management.

The Guardian reported that “Alves’s 31-year old wife, Joana Sanz, told the court on Tuesday (February 6 2024), that he appeared very drunk when he got back to their Barcelona home that night and she had not wanted to talk to him because of ‘the state he was in. He smelled of alcohol’ and on entering the bedroom ‘he bumped into several pieces of furniture and collapsed on the bed,’ she told the court.”

Dani Alves has played for Spanish clubs, Sevilla and Barcelona, as well as Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain. He broke into the Brazil national side in 2006. Dani Alves’s accuser gave evidence on the first day of the trial, but spoke behind a screen in order to protect her identity. After his arrest, Dani Alves’s contract with the Mexican club Pumas UNAM was terminated.