Spanish court gives Brazil's Dani Alves 4-1/2 years for sexual assault

FILE PHOTO: Brazil soccer player Dani Alves sits in court during the first day of his trial in Barcelona, Spain, February 5, 2024. Alberto Estevez/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

BARCELONA (Reuters) -Brazilian footballer Dani Alves was sentenced to four and a half years in prison on Thursday for sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.

The top court in Spain's Catalonia region also ordered Alves, who had maintained throughout that the sex was consensual, to pay 150,000 euros ($163,000) to the victim.