Daniel "Dani" Alves da Silva (Portuguese: [dɐniˈɛw ˈawviz dɐ ˈsiwvɐ]; born 6 May 1983) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a right-back.

Starting his career at Bahia in 2001, Alves went on to have a successful six-year spell with Sevilla, winning two UEFA Cups and the Copa del Rey.

Alves, at age 6, started as a winger, but because of the lack of goals he scored, his father re-positioned him as a right back, a position he still plays up to this day.

[9] After 2002–03, on loan to Sevilla from Bahia, Alves travelled to play in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he impressed as Brazil won the tournament.

From his years in Spain, Alves acquired Spanish citizenship, thus allowing him to bypass any non-EU quota restrictions and exempting him from needing a work permit to play in any EU countries.

Alves made his competitive and European debuts for Barcelona against Wisła Kraków in the 2008–09 UEFA Champions League third-round qualifiers on 13 August 2008.

[23] Later on in his debut season, he missed the 2009 UEFA Champions League Final due to a yellow-card suspension, although Barcelona nonetheless defeated Manchester United 2–0 to complete the treble after also winning La Liga and the 2008–09 Copa del Rey.

On 28 May 2011, Alves played in his first Champions League final as Barcelona defeated Manchester United 3–1 at Wembley Stadium to win its fourth European Cup.

[29] Cyrille Regis, who had been racially abused while a player in the 1970s and 1980s, expressed concern that the viral campaign would detract from the important issues of combating racism in the game.

[33] On 6 June 2015, Alves started for Barça in the 2015 Champions League final as the club won its fifth European Cup by beating Juventus at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

[35] Alves, Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Gerard Piqué, Pedro and Sergio Busquets are the only players to have been a part of both treble-winning teams.

[36] After Barcelona were eliminated by compatriots Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, Alves recorded a "bizarre" video in which he impersonated his wife consoling him for the defeat, and posted it on Instagram; manager Luis Enrique subsequently dropped him from the following match against Valencia.

[39] On 21 September, Alves scored his first goal with Juventus in a 4–0 home win over Cagliari,[40] before opening his Champions League account with the club against Dinamo Zagreb six days later.

[48] On 5 August, Alves assisted Edinson Cavani for PSG's first goal of the 2017–18 Ligue 1 season in a 2–0 win over Amiens at the Parc des Princes.

[50] On 28 August 2018, Alves announced through a post on his Instagram page changing his squad number from 32 to 13 in tribute to Brazilian legend and four-time World Cup winner Mário Zagallo.

On 10 September 2021, Alves' representatives communicated to São Paulo that he would no longer return to training and subsequently play for the club following a dispute over unpaid image rights.

[62] São Paulo FC's footballing director Carlos Belmonte stated: Daniel Alves and Miranda were serving the Brazilian team and should have returned to start regular training for out next games [on Friday].

This is being done to cover the R$18 million debt at the time of the breakup, owing to the contract agreed in 2019, who São Paulo FC were increasingly unable to pay him then.

[67] On 6 February 2022, he scored for the first time since returning, in Barça's 4–2 home win over Atlético Madrid in the league; he also provided an assist for Jordi Alba and was sent off for a foul on Yannick Carrasco in the same match.

[68] On 15 June 2022, Alves announced via a post on his Instagram account that he would leave Barcelona for the second time, having made 408 competitive appearances for the club in total, the second most by a player from abroad, with only Lionel Messi having played more.

[74] Despite being the most expensive right-back in history at the time, he was initially unable to hold down a regular starting spot in the Brazilian national team, with Maicon being the first choice ahead of him.

[84] He retained his position following the appointment of Tite and helped Brazil secure qualification for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, but was ruled out of the tournament due to a knee injury suffered in the 2018 Coupe de France Final.

[87] In the team's final group match against Peru in São Paulo on 22 June, Alves scored in a 5–0 win, which saw Brazil advance to the quarter-finals.

[88] In the final, on 7 July, at the Maracanã Stadium, Brazil faced Peru once again, and won the match 3–1 to win the title; Alves was subsequently named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

[95] By starting in his side's final group stage fixture against Cameroon, Alves became the oldest ever player to feature in a World Cup match for Brazil, at the age of 39 years and 210 days.

[113] That same year, Alves was appointed as an Earthshot Prize council member, an environmental initiative led by Prince William, Duke of Cambridge.

[115][116] After Alves was arrested on sexual assault charges, his wife Joana Sanz separated from him in March 2023; she publicly stated that he had caused great emotional hurt to her, and that she wanted to "close this chapter of her life".

[124][125] El Periódico de Catalunya reported that the complainant alleged to police and in court that after a waiter led her to meet Alves at the nightclub's VIP area, Alves twice made her touch his penis against her will, then ordered her to follow him into the nightclub's bathroom, prevented her from leaving the bathroom, threw her onto the ground, slapped her, tried to force her to fellate him, put her against the sink, then moved her to the toilet, raped her and ejaculated.

[135] The woman who accused Alves of sexually assaulting her provided testimony via a closed-door session, talking from behind a screen and having her voice distorted in order to protect her identity.

[148] However, he was ordered to turn his Spanish and Brazilian passports over to the police, effectively prohibiting him from leaving Spain; to appear before a court weekly; and to keep distance from the victim.