A court in Brazil has ruled that former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward Robinho, aged 40, must serve a nine-year rape sentence in his home country. In 2017, an Italian court found him guilty of participating in the gang rape of a 22-year-old Albanian woman in 2013.
Despite residing in Brazil, which does not extradite its citizens, judges in Brasilia have decided that he should fulfill his sentence in Brazil after a request from Italy.
Remaining free pending a potential appeal against the ruling, according to his lawyers, the former Brazil international, who boasts 100 caps for his country, was playing for AC Milan at the time of the crime.
Despite losing an appeal in 2020 and having his sentence upheld by Italy’s highest court in 2022, Italian prosecutors issued an international arrest warrant for him. The footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, asserted to a Brazilian network on Sunday that the encounter had been “consensual”.
Robinho claimed two La Liga titles during his four seasons with Real Madrid before joining Manchester City for a then-British record fee of £32.5m in September 2008, coinciding with Sheikh Mansour’s first day as owner of the Premier League club.
Following two seasons, he moved to AC Milan, where he remained for the next five years before transferring to Chinese side Guangzhou Evergrande and then returning to Brazil with Atletico Mineiro.
