“I’m no longer who I was/I’m who He says I am.” Football players’ Instagram profiles often feature scenes of performances on the field and achievements off it: cars, clothes, luxurious family holidays. None of this appears on Daniel Alves’ Instagram, starting with the phrase he wrote in his bio, in capital letters: “Disciple of Christ Jesus”.
The posts on Daniel Alves’ profile feature photos and videos of the player wearing shirts from different clubs, but what stands out is the soundtrack: gospel praise. Like the transcript above, or this one: “If you want to find me in my past, I’m not there. If you want to accuse me of my sins, He erased it.” In the subtitles, Bible verses and messages, generally written in Spanish.
Daniel Alves began his posts with religious themes when he resumed his activity on Instagram in October 2024. He had not posted anything since January 2023, when he was arrested preventively accused of sexual assault by a 23-year-old woman he met at the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona.
In March 2024, Alves gained the right to await the trial of an appeal in freedom, upon payment of bail of 1 million euros (R$ 6.2 million at the current exchange rate). In March 2025, his sentence was revoked when the Superior Court of Catalonia considered that, “based on the existing evidence, it cannot be concluded that the standards for the presumption of innocence have been exceeded”. The money was returned.
Alves’ religious messages remained relatively discreet until October 2025. At the time, a video of the player giving a statement inside an evangelical church in Catalonia went viral.
The temple was located in Girona, a city about 100 kilometers from Barcelona, and belonged to the Elim church – a Pentecostal denomination founded in Ireland in 1915. In the book Exodus, from the Old Testament, Elim is an oasis where the Jews, in their escape from Egypt, get a break from the desert crossing led by Moses.
“We invited Daniel Alves to a youth conference at which we welcomed guests from the United States,” pastor Sammy Thomas told the Catalan newspaper Ara. “The congregation received him very well. God died for sinners, Alves was converted through the Gospel, and this transformed him.” The report from Sheet He looked for Pastor Thomas, but received no response.
At the beginning of the year, the former player from globally successful clubs such as Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain, São Paulo and Juventus Turin appeared again in the news when he bought part of a Portuguese third division team. The club is called SC São João de Ver and is from the city of Santa Maria da Feira, in the metropolitan area of Porto, in the north of Portugal.
According to a note released by the club, Alves acquired 50% of Sociedade Anônima Desportiva (SAD) from São João de Ver. He made a verbal agreement providing that it would total 100% in the middle of this year, at the end of the 2025/2026 season. In an official statement, the club hailed the Brazilian player as “a name that carries one of the most successful trajectories in world football” and that counts on him to “transform potential into greatness”.
Acquitted by the Superior Court of Catalonia, Alves is still awaiting the verdict of the Supreme Court of Spain, the highest court in the country. The Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office appealed the intermediate court’s sentence, considering it “arbitrary” and “erroneous”. The decision has not yet been made. When contacted by the report, Daniel Alves’ defense did not respond at the time of publication.
