Robinho, the former Manchester City and Real Madrid attacker, must serve a nine-year rape term in his home nation of Brazil, according to a court ruling.

In 2017, an Italian court found Robinho, 40, guilty of participating in the 2013 gang rape of a 22-year-old Albanian woman.

He has lived in Brazil, which does not extradite its citizens.

Judges in Brasilia ruled on Wednesday that he should spend his sentence in Brazil following a plea from Italy.

He will stay free until a possible appeal of the verdict, according to lawyers.

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

Italian authorities later obtained an international arrest request for him.

On Sunday, the footballer, who spent two years with Manchester City, told a Brazilian network that the intercourse was "consensual".

Robinho earned two La Liga titles in four seasons at Real Madrid before joining City for a then-British record sum of £32.5 million on transfer deadline day in September 2008, which also marked Sheikh Mansour's first day as owner of the Premier League side.

After two seasons, he joined AC Milan, where he spent the next five years before going to Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande and then returned to Brazil with Atletico Mineiro.