Why another Brazilian superstar must go to prison for rape

In a landmark ruling, former Brazilian soccer star Robinho has been ordered by Brazil's Superior Court of Justice to serve a 9-year prison sentence in Italy after exhausting his final appeal against a 2017 gang rape conviction.

The 40-year-old, whose real name is Robson de Souza, was one of six men found guilty by an Italian court of assaulting an Albanian woman at a Milanese nightclub in January 2013 when he was playing for AC Milan.

Despite maintaining his innocence and claiming the encounter was consensual, Robinho's conviction was upheld through multiple appeals in the Italian legal system culminating in the Supreme Court dismissing his final appeal in January 2022 per Daily Mail.

Wednesday's ruling from Brazil's top court comes after Italian authorities officially requested Robinho's extradition last year to serve out his sentence.

According to reports, the Brazilian authorities have stated they will comply with the extradition order following this latest legal defeat for the former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward.

Robinho, who was capped 100 times by Brazil and formed part of their 2007 Copa America winning team, had been living in his home country since 2017 after returning from a spell playing in Turkey and China.

The allegations centered around an incident on the night of January 22, 2013 when Robinho was 28 years old and at the peak of his club career with AC Milan in Serie A.

Despite his protestations over the years that the encounter was consensual, the Italian courts ruled he was guilty of assaulting the woman along with five other men after meeting her at a nightclub that evening.

Should Robinho's extradition go ahead as expected, he faces beginning his 9-year sentence behind bars in Italy relating to one of the most high-profile gang rape cases involving a soccer player in recent memory.