Dani Alves will spend the weekend in prison after failing to come up with the €1 million ($1.08m) bail payment required for his conditional release as he awaits the result of an appeal to his rape conviction, court sources confirmed to ESPN.
The former Brazil footballer was granted bail Wednesday after his 4½-year sentence but failed to come up with the money for a third successive day Friday.
ESPN sources added that Alves’ legal team had asked for a one-hour extension to the deadline of 2 p.m. local time but were still unable to deliver the funds. The payment cannot be made Saturday or Sunday.
Sources had told ESPN earlier this week Alves was exploring different avenues to raise the €1m, including freeing up some of his assets and requesting money owed to him by the Spanish Tax Agency. The sources confirmed Friday that Alves hopes to have the money ready by Monday or Tuesday.
On Friday, the father of Brazil star Neymar, Alves’ former teammate, said neither he nor his son would help with the bail.
Neymar Sr. confirmed he has helped Alves with money since his arrest at the beginning of 2023, but explained that was before his conviction of sexual assault at a Barcelona nightclub at the end of 2022 was confirmed.
For Alves to be released, he is required to hand over his Brazilian and Spanish passports, in addition to posting bail, and is prohibited from leaving the country. He still has a residence near Barcelona.
Alves also cannot come within 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) of the victim or try to communicate with her, and he must make weekly check-ins at the courthouse.
There was a backlash to the decision to grant Alves bail pending the result of his appeal earlier this week, with the victim’s lawyer, Ester García, calling it a “scandalous” decision.
“It is justice for the rich,” she said.
All parties involved — the defence, the victim’s legal team and the prosecution — were given three days to appeal Wednesday’s ruling, which García confirmed she would be doing.
Alves was sentenced to 4½ years in prison in February after a judge found him guilty of sexual assault following a three-day trial.
He has already served 14 months of that sentence, having been held in preventative pre-trial prison since his arrest last year.
Brazil full-back Danilo, who will captain the side in their friendly against England on Saturday, spoke about the importance of footballers setting an example in the wake of Alves’ conviction and that of Robinho, who on Thursday started serving a nine-year prison sentence for rape.
“We, as top-level athletes, have to understand the place we occupy, what our role is, understand that we have the power to influence positively or negatively, and it is time for us to better understand what our role is: Playing football, representing our clubs and our national team, but also serving as an example of behaviour off the field for young people,” he said in a Friday news conference.
“It is important to start this awareness and have this conversation with young people, so that a more genuine and reflective thought is formed, putting oneself in women’s shoes in a more empathetic way. And that women can have more freedom to occupy the places they deserve to occupy.”
Information from ESPN’s Adriana Garcia contributed to this report.