Brazilian police arrested ex-footballer Robinho at his home in the city of Santos on Thursday to begin a nine-year prison sentence for gang rape.
The 40-year-old Robinho still has to undergo a medical examination, according to the DPA agency.
In 2013, Robinho, along with five other Brazilians, raped a young Albanian woman at a disco in Milan, Italy.
Four years later, the Italian court sent him behind bars for nine years, but at that time the footballer was already outside of this southern European country.
Brazil does not extradite its citizens abroad, so Italy asked the Brazilian authorities in 2022 for the former Real Madrid or Manchester City striker to serve his sentence in his homeland.
Brazilian judges ruling on the case agreed on Wednesday, according to BBC News, which was praised by a number of local media who feared that Robinho would avoid justice because of his fame and fortune.
Robinho was a prodigy of Brazilian football, bought by Real Madrid from Santos at the age of 18.
During his career, he won league titles in Spain (with Real), Italy (with AC Milan), Turkey (with Basaksehir) and China (Guangzhou Evergrande).
He played 100 games for the Brazilian national team and won the Copa América with them.
