A Spanish appeals court has overturned the four-and-a-half-year prison sentence of former Barcelona and Brazil defender Dani Alves, acquitting him of sexual assault.

The 41-year-old had been convicted in February 2024 for an alleged incident at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022. However, he was granted bail in March 2024 as legal proceedings continued.

The High Court of Justice of Catalonia ruled in favor of Alves’ appeal, with a panel of four judges citing “inaccuracies” in the original conviction.

The appeals panel consisted of judges Maria Angels Vivas, Roser Bach, Maria Jesus Manzano and Manuel Alvarez, who reasoned the initial ruling contained “a series of gaps, inaccuracies, inconsistencies and contradictions regarding the facts, the legal assessment and its consequences”.

The court rejected two separate appeals from the prosecution, one from the public prosecutor’s office, which sought to partially annul the verdict and extend Alves’ sentence to nine years, and another from a private prosecution pushing for a 12-year sentence.

Alves was granted bail in March after his legal team posted a €1 million ($1.08 million) bond. His release was conditional, requiring him to remain in Spain and surrender both his Spanish and Brazilian passports to authorities while awaiting the appeal’s resolution.

Prior to securing bail, the former Barcelona defender had spent 14 months in Brians 2 prison in Catalonia. He was initially arrested by local police in January 2023 in connection with an alleged sexual assault at Barcelona’s Sutton nightclub.

The Spanish public prosecutor’s office accused Alves of assaulting a 23-year-old woman at the venue, though he consistently denied the allegations.