International Football
Higuita, Ronaldinho, Maradona, Benjamin Mendy… other footballers who went to jail before Dani Alves
Dani Alves is currently in jail after being involved in a case of sexual assault. Unfortunately, he is not the first footballer who has ended up behind bars. We review other striking cases throughout history.
Dani Alves, a former player of FC Barcelona and Seville, has spent his first weekend in pretrial detention without bail by order of the head of the trial court number 15 in Barcelona for the accusation of having raped a 23-year-old girl on the night of the December 30 in the bathroom of the Sutton nightclub.
Ronaldinho was in prison for 171 days in Paraguay for falsifying passports.
Gabriel Cortez
The former Barcelona Sporting player entered pretrial detention in April 2022
This midfielder for the Barcelona Sporting Club of Ecuador entered pretrial detention in April 2022 accused of being in a gang of hitmen.
Adam Johnson
He was sentenced to six years for having sexual relations with a minor. Six years old, he only turned three.
Benjamin Mendy
The former City player stepped in jail in 2021 accused of various rapes and sexual assault. He left her in January 2022 after posting bail. The trial declared him innocent.
Semedo
The Portuguese central defender left the PIcasssent prison shortly before signing for Huesca after 142 days there, where he was in preventive detention accused of alleged crimes of attempted homicide, injuries, threats, illegal detention, illegal possession of weapons and robbery with violence
Vinicius ‘Breno’ Broges
In 2011, Breno burned down his house while drunk and was sentenced to three years in prison.
Nizar Trabelsi
The Tunisian was related to Islamic terrorism and was sentenced to 10 years for being an accomplice in the attack on the Twin Towers
Bruno Fernandes de Souza
The goalkeeper asked that his partner be destroyed. The young woman’s body was never found and the footballer was sentenced in 2013 to 22 years in prison
Juanele
Pedrag Stankovic
The former Hercules was in jail in 2009 after the “Cyclone operation” for drug trafficking
Jesus Emilio Diez ‘Txutxi’
For the same “Cyclone case” he was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Freddy Rincon
The ill-fated former Real Madrid player spent 123 days in prison for drug trafficking
Lucas Viatri
The one from Boca was only under pressure for a month after being involved in a hairdresser
Edmund
The former Fiore player was sentenced to four years in prison for being involved in a fatal traffic accident, but in the end he only served one day.
Maradona
In 1991 he was detained for cocaine use, shortly after he was released. Three years later, he also stepped in jail for a few hours due to a problem with journalists.
René Higuita
“I remember that they put me in jail and after eight days they come to tell me that I am there because of the anti-kidnapping law. It sounded to me like ‘hand over Pablo Escobar and you have not committed any crime’. They handcuffed me and put me in a Helicopter and I had another helicopter behind escorting me. They haven’t done this even to the worst drug trafficker. They only did it to René Higuita,” said the Colombian
Peter Storey
He was in 1979 for running a brothel, distributing pornography and counterfeiting gold coins later.
-Marca
Well-travelled Portuguese coach Paulo Duarte has been named as Guinea’s new coach, less than a month before their next round of World Cup qualifiers.
Duarte, 56, has twice previously coached Burkina Faso and taken charge of Gabon and Togo, while also coaching at clubs in Portugal, France, Tunisia, Angola and Saudi Arabia.
Guinea’s football federation gave no contract details when they made the announcement on Monday, but said they would be looking for Duarte to “restructure their national team”.
Guinea trail leaders Algeria by eight points in their World Cup qualifying group with four games remaining, leaving them with only a slim chance of qualification.
They play Somalia away on September 5 and then Algeria at home on September 8 in their next two qualifiers although a stadium ban means Guinea have moved their home game to Casablanca, Morocco.
-Reuters
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Veteran coach Louis van Gaal says he has been cured of cancer and is keen for a return to the higher levels of the game.
The 73-year-old announced three years ago that he was suffering from prostate cancer, but told a Dutch television talk show, “I’m no longer bothered by cancer.”
When he announced his illness, Van Gaal was the coach of the Dutch national team, but he has not worked since the last World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
“Two years ago, I had a few operations. It was all bad then. But it all worked out in the end. I have check-ups every few months, and that’s going well. I’m getting fitter and fitter,” he said.
Van Gaal, whose career has included stints at Ajax Amsterdam, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, reiterated a lack of interest in returning to club management but said becoming the national coach of a top-tier country could tempt him back.
He now serves as a special advisor to Ajax.
-Reuters
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In a compelling twist of football destiny, Davide Ancelotti is stepping into his own spotlight as he begins his first head coaching role at Brazilian club Botafogo—just months after parting ways with his legendary father, Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid.
The 35-year-old has been appointed as Botafogo’s new manager, the club announced on Tuesday, following the sacking of Renato Paiva. Davide, who has spent the last decade working alongside his father at some of Europe’s top clubs—including Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, and Real Madrid—has signed a one-year deal with the Rio-based team.
This marks a significant milestone for the younger Ancelotti, whose career has long been shaped by his father’s influence, but who now faces the challenge of carving his own identity on the touchline.
The move comes shortly after both father and son departed Real Madrid at the end of last season, with Carlo taking over the Brazilian national team. Now, in a poetic alignment, father and son find themselves on different paths within Brazilian football—one leading the Seleção, the other steering the fortunes of a storied domestic club.
Botafogo’s decision to appoint Davide follows a controversial parting with Paiva, who was dismissed just days after their exit from the Club World Cup. Though he oversaw a stunning win over Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain, a 1-0 extra-time loss to Palmeiras in the round of 16 proved to be his final act after just four months in charge.
As Davide Ancelotti begins this new chapter, all eyes will be on whether the son of one of football’s most decorated managers can step out from his father’s shadow—and perhaps, in time, build a legacy of his own.
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