An Argentine court has sentenced a football supporter to seven and a half years in prison for orchestrating threats against World Cup winner Ángel Di María and his family in an attempt to prevent the forward from returning to his boyhood club, Rosario Central.
Sergio “Bebe” Di Vanni, 45, was convicted in Rosario over a campaign of intimidation carried out in March 2024, when Di María was considering leaving European football to return to Argentina.
The threats included gunfire near a residential area where the footballer owned a property and the delivery of a box containing a pig’s head with a bullet wound outside a real estate office operated by his sister. A threatening message also targeted his daughter.
At the time, Di María was playing for Portuguese club Benfica. The intimidation was intended to discourage him from joining Rosario Central, a club that has a longstanding rivalry with Newell’s Old Boys, whose supporters included Di Vanni.
A woman identified as an accomplice, Belén Gutiérrez, received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence in June after reaching a plea agreement. A third suspect remains in pre-trial detention.
Di María initially abandoned plans to return because of concerns for his family’s safety but eventually rejoined Rosario Central in 2025.
The case highlights how violence associated with organised football supporter groups can extend beyond stadiums and threaten players and their families. The sentence marks a judicial response to intimidation linked to the rivalry between the two Rosario clubs.
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