Back in January, former Barcelona player Dani Alves was arrested by local police investigating an alleged sexual assault in a nightclub in the Spanish city.
Alves, who played 408 matches for Barca across two spells, as well as 126 times for Brazil, has been in custody since his arrest on January 20 — 321 days ago. He is being held in a prison to the north west of Barcelona.
At the time of the alleged sexual assault on December 30 last year, he was signed to Mexican club Pumas UNAM. They terminated his contract in January.
Alves, who turned 40 in May, has repeatedly denied the allegation, including at several appeal hearings. He has also given different versions of events to investigators and, in an interview in June, admitted initially “lying” about what happened.
With a trial approaching — it was first planned for the end of the year but now appears likely to take place in early 2024 — this article, which contains graphic details of the alleged sexual assault, explains the case so far in full.
What is alleged to have happened?
The chronology of events dates back to December 9 last year, when Croatia beat Brazil in the World Cup quarter-finals in Qatar.
Alves was part of the Brazil squad, and when they were knocked out he returned to Spain to rest with his wife, Joana…
