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 EFE.
The former Brazil footballer was granted bail from his 4½ year sentence on Wednesday but failed to come up with the money for a third successive day on Friday.
EFE added that Alves’ legal team had asked for a one hour extension to the deadline of 2pm local time but were still unable to deliver the funds. The payment cannot be made on Saturday or Sunday.
Sources 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 Office.
On Friday, the father of Brazil star Neymar, Alves’ former teammate, said that 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 for sexual assault at a Barcelona nightclub at the end of 2022 was confirmed.
In addition to posting bail, Alves is also required to hand over his Brazilian and Spanish passports and is prohibited from leaving the country as part of his conditional release. 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.