Three Real Madrid academy players accept one-year sentence as Asencio is cleared

The Provincial Court of Las Palmas has left the case of the sexual video recorded in Gran Canaria in 2023 ready for sentencing after all parties reached a plea agreement. Former Real Madrid academy players Ferrán Ruiz, Juan Rodríguez and Andrés García have accepted a one-year prison sentence for a child pornography offence. First-team defender Raúl Asencio, the only current Real Madrid player involved in the case, has been acquitted.

• Ferrán Ruiz, Juan Rodríguez and Andrés García accept a one-year prison sentence for child pornography.
• Raúl Asencio is acquitted after the disclosure of secrets charge is dropped.
• The two young women in the video have forgiven all four players.
• Prosecutors had initially sought four years and seven months for the three former academy players and two and a half years for Asencio.

The victims' forgiveness, key to Raúl Asencio's acquittal

The deal was made possible after the two young women in the video, one of whom was 16 at the time of the events, confirmed in court that they forgive all four defendants. That forgiveness has had a twofold effect on the charges. On one hand, it cancels the only offence attributed to Raúl Asencio: disclosing secrets by showing a third party the video sent to him by the other defendants, knowing it had been recorded without the complainants' consent.

On the other, it allowed prosecutors to apply a mitigating factor to the most serious charge, child pornography, which weighed on Ferrán Ruiz, Juan Rodríguez and Andrés García. As a result, the sentence for the three former academy players has been set at one year in prison, far from the four years and seven months initially requested by the prosecution. The agreed sentence will be final as no party has appealed.

What prosecutors sought before the plea deal

Before the plea agreement was reached, the prosecution's request was considerably harsher. For the three former Real Madrid academy players, it demanded four years and seven months in prison for the child pornography offence. For Raúl Asencio, the request was two and a half years for a disclosure of secrets charge, the only one he faced. The deal struck during the hearing has drastically reduced those penalties and left the first-team academy player out of the criminal proceedings.

Where the four footballers stand after the case

Raúl Asencio is the only one of the four defendants still linked to Real Madrid. The centre-back, developed at La Fábrica, has established himself in the first team this season under Carlo Ancelotti and has played important minutes in both LaLiga and the Champions League. His acquittal allows him to close the judicial chapter and focus fully on his sporting career.

Ferrán Ruiz, Juan Rodríguez and Andrés García, meanwhile, are no longer part of the Madrid club's structure. The three left the academy at different times and have followed paths away from Real Madrid. The one-year prison sentence agreed at trial does not necessarily mean they will serve time in a penitentiary, as sentences of that length are often suspended when there is no prior criminal record.

A video recorded in Gran Canaria in 2023

The events date back to 2023, when the video with sexual content that gave rise to the case was recorded in Gran Canaria. The images feature the two young women who have brought the private prosecution and who confirmed their forgiveness during the trial at the Provincial Court of Las Palmas. The fact that one of them was a minor at the time was decisive in classifying the main offence as child pornography.

Asencio will continue as normal in the Real Madrid first team

Raúl Asencio's acquittal clears any doubt about his continuity in the Real Madrid first team. The Canary Islands-born centre-back, one of the breakout players of the season for the Madrid side, no longer has any pending judicial case and will be able to compete with complete normality in the decisive stretch of the campaign. His growth in the heart of the defence has made him a regular piece in Ancelotti's rotations.