BARCELONA, March 25 — Former Brazil international footballer Dani Alves, convicted of rape in Spain, has paid his bail of €1 million (RM5.1 million) and can leave jail pending his appeal, a court said Monday.

One of the world’s most decorated footballers, Alves, 40, was last month sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail for raping a young woman in the VIP bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub in the early hours of December 31, 2022.