Veteran Brazil international striker Robinho on Thursday had a nine-year sentence for the rape of a young woman upheld by a court in Italy. Judges of the Milan Court of Appeal confirmed the sentence for both Robinho and one of his friends for group sexual violence dating back to January 2013.

Robinho was playing for AC Milan at the time of the attack and was tried in absentia in November 2017. The pair were among a group of six men accused of taking part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman, 22, in a Milan nightclub. They were both ordered to jointly pay the woman damages of 60,000 euros ($73,000). The case against the four other accused has been suspended.