Robinho has new job inside 'prison for the famous' as ex-Real Madrid and Man City forward serves sentence

A new report has given an insight into Robinho's life behind bars, with the former Manchester City and Real Madrid forward sharing an eight-metre-squared cell in one of Brazil's most infamous prisons.

Back in 2017, Robinho was sentenced by an Italian court in absentia to nine years in prison, after he was convicted of taking part in a group sexual assault of a 22-year-old Albanian woman in 2013.

The conviction was later upheld by Milan's Court of Appeals, and then upheld for a second time by Italy's top court in 2022.

The 41-year-old, who has continued to deny wrongdoing and insists his sexual relations with the woman at a Milan bar were consensual, was eventually imprisoned last year, when a Brazilian high court ruled that Robinho must serve his sentence in his home nation.

After judges on Brazil's Superior Court of Justice voted 9-2 to validate the conviction, the former AC Milan striker now resides in the Dr. Jose Augusto Cesar Salgado P2 prison in Tremembe, near Sao Paulo.

The entrance to the prison where Robinho is being held. Image credit: Getty

Here, he shares an eight-metre-squared cell with another inmate, who is believed to be a 22-year-old who is in prison for inducing someone to commit suicide or self-harm, according to Marca.

The report goes on to suggest that Robinho entertains his fellow inmates by playing football with a pair of borrowed boots. "In his first match, on a dirt pitch, and with the guards as the crowd, he received a kick on the third dribble that left him on the ground," the report adds.

As well as the above, Robinho can reportedly reduce his sentence by one day for every 12 hours worked, so he has completed a 600-hour electronics course and now fixes radios and televisions inside the prison.

He has also completed the 10 modules of the Education for Work and Citizenship Program in search of a reduced sentence or a so-called 'semi-open' regime.

"He kept his head down and moved on quietly, he is an exemplary prisoner and has not had any problems with other prisoners, he keeps himself busy," says his lawyer, Mario Rosso.

Robinho repairs TVs and radios at the Tremembe Penitentiary.

Robinho has previously claimed that racism was to blame for his conviction in Italy. "I played only four years in Italy and I got tired of seeing stories of racism," he said during an interview with TV Record in 2024.

"Unfortunately that exists to this day. [The rape case] was in 2013, now we are in 2024. The same people who don't do anything against it [racism] are the ones who sentenced me."

The prison in Sao Paulo is said to hold a number of high-profile inmates, including a man who killed his own daughter and a former doctor who abused 39 sedated patients, as per the Mail.