Catalonia's highest court convicted former Brazilian fullback Dani Alves of sexual assault against a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022, sentencing him to four and a half years in prison.

Additionally, Alves was ordered to pay 150,000 euros ($162,990) to the victim.

"The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent and that there is evidence, in addition to the testimony of the plaintiff, to consider the rape proven," the court said in a statement.

Alves had maintained that the sex was consensual.

The prosecutor was seeking a nine-year prison term.

The 40-year-old former Barcelona defender was arrested in January last year and has been held in custody since.

The case has attracted significant attention not only because of Alves' profile but also because gender violence has become an increasingly dominant topic in Spain's public discourse.

It is one of the most high-profile trials in Spain since a law passed in 2022 made consent a key element in sexual assault cases and increased the minimum prison time for assaults involving violence.