A Spanish court has overturned the conviction of former Brazilian and Barcelona soccer star Dani Alves for sexual assault. Alves had been sentenced to four years and six months in prison in February 2024 after being found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub. He was released from prison in March 2024 pending his appeal.

The top court in Spain's Catalonia region stated that the original ruling presented "inconsistencies and contradictions." Alves' lawyer, Ines Guardiola, told RAC1 radio, "Dani Alves is very happy. He is innocent, that is demonstrated. Justice has spoken."

According to the Catalan high court, the alleged victim's testimony lacked credibility, particularly concerning facts that could be verified through video recordings. The ruling stated that what she recounted did not correspond to reality. The court also noted "a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and contradictions concerning the facts, the legal assessment, and its consequences," leading to the conclusion that the standard required by the presumption of innocence had not been met.

The four judges at the Barcelona-based appeals court unanimously ruled to overturn the conviction.

Alves' trial was the first high-profile case since Spain overhauled its laws in 2022 to make lack of consent central to defining a sex crime. This change in law came after numerous protests following a gang-rape case during the San Fermin bull-running festival in Pamplona in 2016. The legislation, known as the "only yes means yes" law, defines consent as an explicit expression of a person's will, clarifying that silence or passivity do not grant consent.