Copyright pulsesports
Former Brazil international Dani Alves in now an Evangelical preacher after getting acquitted. Former Barcelona defender Dani Alves, who was convicted of rape before a superior court acquitted him, has become an evangelical preacher, claiming to have made a pact with God. The 42-year-old spent over a year remanded in jail, a series of incidents which ended his football career, sponsorships, and nearly destroyed his marriage. He now says he has found God, months after his appeal was successful. Alves now a preacher In a video now making the rounds on the internet, Alves was addressing an animated congregation in a church in Girona, Catalonia, preaching about his rebirth and his newfound faith. "You have to have faith; I'm proof of that," Alves told the congregation, as related by Ara.cat. "I will serve you, but take care of my house," he says was his agreement with God. He spoke of "the power of God" and linked it to the birth of his son. "Love is loving when one doesn't deserve it," Alves continued. He concluded, saying, "In the midst of the storm,” a messenger led him to the church. Alves rape case, conviction and acquittal Dani Alves was accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub on the night of 31 December 2022. He was arrested in January 2023, held on remand at the Brians II prison near Barcelona, and tried in Barcelona in a high-profile three-day hearing. In February 2024, a Barcelona court found him guilty of rape and sentenced him to four years and six months in prison and ordered him to pay about €150,000 in compensation. Alves denied the charge, and his lawyers immediately appealed. He had already spent about 14 months in pre-trial detention and was released provisionally on 25 March 2024 after posting €1,000,000 bail, surrendering his passports and agreeing to weekly court check-ins and a restraining order while the appeal proceeded. On 28 March 2025, a Barcelona-based appeals court quashed the conviction, ruling the evidence and testimony were insufficient to overcome Alves’s presumption of innocence and ordering the previous verdict annulled; the judges said there were notable inconsistencies between the accuser’s testimony and other material reviewed on appeal. Spain’s public prosecutors subsequently announced they would appeal that acquittal to Spain’s Supreme Court, arguing the appeals court reached an “irrational” and erroneous conclusion and seeking either a new review or a higher sentence.
