SAO PAULO — Former Brazil international football player Robinho has been arrested to serve a nine-year prison sentence for rape.

He was convicted two years ago in Italy for his part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman at a night club in Milan in 2013.

Robinho, 40, was arrested at his flat in his home city of Santos.

The Italian government had requested that he serve his sentence in Brazil after failing to get him extradited.

On Wednesday, a court in Brazil upheld the decision and also ruled that he should serve his time behind bars instead of under house arrest.

Earlier on Thursday, a Supreme Court judge rejected a request to halt his detention.

The decisive action taken by Brazil's justice system has been praised by many on local media, who feared that Robinho would evade justice thanks to his fame and his wealth.

The former Brazil international, who has 100 caps for his country, was playing for AC Milan at the time of the crime. After being found guilty, he lost an appeal in 2020 before Italy's highest court upheld his sentence in 2022.

Italian prosecutors then issued an international arrest warrant for him.

The footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, told a Brazilian network on Sunday that the sex had been "consensual". — BBC