Daniel Alves’ call-up to the World Cup had twice as much impact as imprisonment, according to a survey

Daniel Alves is far from being an unknown in football. On the contrary, he is the biggest individual title winner in the sport today. In the midst of a serious accusation of sexual assault, for which he was arrested in Spain, however, the sporting factor still stands out. Data show that the repercussion of the case, which every day gains more details in the world press, has not yet reached half of the most recent controversy of the player on the field: his trip to the World Cup in Qatar.

A survey of the BITES system given to GLOBO shows that, between Twitter, blogs, news and forums in Portuguese, the repercussion of Daniel’s call for the World Cup had 481,068 mentions of the 39-year-old athlete. Already in the time interval between the first disclosure of the accusation of sexual assault until the current moment, there were 203,479. A difference of 2.3 times more mentions for the field question, when the player was questioned by fans for his age considered advanced and the lack of participation in a major competitive league before the tournament dispute.

Data were analyzed based on a period of 25 days for both cases: from December 31, 2022 (first mention of the complaint) to January 24 of this year and from October 31 (week prior to the summons) to November 24 of 2022. Only on November 7, when he was officially summoned, Daniel was cited 328,821 times.

For Professor Leda Maria da Costa, researcher at the Laboratory of Studies in Media and Sport at the Faculty of Social Communication at Uerj, the data indicate how discussions about machismo in the soccer environment are still placed in the background.

— It shows how events linked to crimes of a sexual nature in sport, in football, are still somehow naturalized. It announces, to a large extent, the sexist environment of football.

Few voices in football

The repercussion disparity is also verified among athletes and clubs. Pumas-MEX terminated Daniel’s contract. Among players and coaches, Xavi Hernández, former teammate and later coach of the Brazilian at Barcelona, ​​was one of the few to speak openly on the subject.

— It is difficult to comment on a situation like this. I’m surprised and shocked. Justice will say, we can’t get into that. I feel bad for him. I’m surprised – admitted the coach last Saturday. It was under his command that Daniel made his second spell at Barcelona, ​​between November 2021 and June 2022, when he acted as a figure of experience and mentorship to younger players in the squad that was being formed.

“We have to condemn all these acts, no matter who does them. I apologize to the victims of gender violence – added the Spaniard, a day later, under criticism for not having named the alleged victim.

Leda recalls that, from 2018 to 2020, 240 police reports against athletes and former athletes for domestic violence and sexual crimes were registered in São Paulo alone. Which helps explain the dissonance.

“Often it’s collegiality. An exaggerated manifestation of collegiality that somehow takes place in the case of silence. Silence also speaks, it also says.