Asencio to stand trial in underage sex video case

Real Madrid defender Raul Asencio will stand trial along with three former Los Blancos youth team players in a case regarding distribution of a sexual video involving a minor, Spain’s judicial governing body said on Thursday.

A Las Palmas court declared “the opening of oral proceedings against the four footballers allegedly involved in the recording and/or non-consensual distribution of videos with sexual content involving a minor and another young woman,” read a statement from Spain’s General Council of the Judiciary.

The court’s ruling, from September 2, is not subject to appeal, and the start date of the trial has not yet been announced.

Asencio confirmed in May that he was one of the men accused in the case, but protested his “innocence of any criminal conduct”, and said that the court had not accused him of participating in, or filming, the video.

The four players were indicted in a case involving “the recording or non-consensual dissemination of videos of a sexual nature involving a minor and another young girl”, aged 16 and 18 respectively at the time, read a court document seen by AFP.

In September 2023, three unnamed Real Madrid youth players were arrested at the club’s training centre following a complaint lodged by the mother of the 16-year-old girl who appears in the video, filmed in June that year at a beach club in Gran Canaria.

At the time, Spanish media reported that one player had recorded a consensual sexual encounter with the young girl before sending the video to the other players without her consent.

Fans at various stadiums around Spain have jeered Asencio, 22, and chanted for him to “die” after reports emerged regarding the case.