Archive image of Sebastián Villa during a Boca Juniors game. Manuel Cortina (SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)
In June, Colombian soccer player Sebastián Villa was sentenced by the Argentine judiciary to two years and a month in prison for hitting and threatening his ex-partner. The Boca Juniors forward avoided jail because the sentence was less than three years and left the country to return to Colombia. A month later, this Wednesday, the player returned to Argentina and trained with the rest of the squad. National media assure that the sportsman has returned after the club intimidated Villa into fulfilling his contract, which runs until 2024.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Villa appeared at the Buenos Aires airport, masked, cell phone and suitcase in hand. Hours later he was at the ground where Boca Juniors train in Ezeiza, west of the capital. National media report that while the club have decided to reintroduce Villa to training, the striker will not be called up for the games. Villa, who has been at Boca since 2018 and was the star of the team, will meanwhile be looking for a place to continue his career.
Villa, 27, was found guilty of using coercive threats of minor, relationship-qualified injuries related to gender-based violence against his ex-partner Daniela Cortés “in a genuine dispute.” The attack, which Cortés denounced, happened on April 27, 2020 at the couple’s shared home in a gated neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. According to the victim, the soccer player hurt her and threatened to hurt her family after she told him she didn’t want to continue the relationship.
After the verdict, a dialectical and legal battle began with the club, which had shown its support for its star player throughout the process. Boca Junior had continued to label him a starter at games and allowed him to pose with the rest of the squad in front of a flag against gender-based violence hours before the verdict was announced. When the verdict became known, the disagreements began.
Boca released a statement saying Villa would “not participate in the appeals” by the parties “until a final court decision has been rendered.” Later, Villa traveled to Colombia and the institution warned that the player was not allowed to leave the country. The striker, through his lawyers, requested his reinstatement from the club; otherwise, the legal department argued, he could be considered a free player. The club has defended that the player was entitled to continue training at the facilities at all times.
This Wednesday, the club brought him back, beginning a new phase in the relationship between the institution and the player as the next steps in the striker’s career are laid out. Although Villa was released after conviction, he faces another trial in 2021 over the alleged rape of a young woman. Other players from the team remained in the squad while they were investigated for other counts of violence, such as Eduardo Salvio for injuring his ex-wife, or Frank Fabra for involvement in an abuse case against two women after a party.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive the latest news from the region.