2 publishers · first seen Thu, 29 Oct 2026 07:04 UTC · updated Thu, 29 Oct 2026 10:25 UTC
An Argentine court sentenced Sergio Di Vanni, 45, to seven and a half years in prison for orchestrating threats against footballer Angel Di Maria in 2024. The court in Rosario found Di Vanni guilty of ordering intimidation acts aimed at preventing Di Maria from returning to Argentina to play for Rosario Central, his boyhood club.
The threats included gunshots near Di Maria's property and a pig's head with a bullet wound left outside his sister's estate agency, accompanied by a message threatening his daughter. Di Maria, then at Benfica, postponed his return but later joined Rosario Central in 2025 and helped the team win the Argentine title by the end of that year. Belen Gutierrez, 25, received a three and a half year sentence in June after a plea deal, while a third suspect remains in pre-trial detention. Prosecutors said the attacks were carried out for four million pesos ($2,600) and linked to a power struggle within Newell’s Old Boys' ultra fan group.
Content auto-generated. May contain inaccuracies.