At a young age, Nicolás Schiappacasse knew how to shine in the youth teams of the Uruguayan national team and in River Plate, which earned him an early transfer to Atlético Madrid. When recently, after not being able to prosper in Europe, he returned to Uruguay to be reborn in Peñarol, no one could imagine that his passage through one of the greats would be more marked by police events than by his performance on the field. .
The young soccer player was at the center of the growing tension and violence in soccer this Wednesday when he was arrested while on his way to the classic in Maldonado, and a weapon was seized from him that he was carrying – according to his own initial statement – for the brava aurinegra bar .
Although the context in which his arrest took place gives a special dimension to the Schiappacasse case, and also links it in particular to the violence of the bars, his is not the only one of a soccer player involved in episodes that motivated the action of Justice. Some have even been involved in more than one episode of violence.
Nahitan Nández and a complaint for gender violence
Less than a month ago, Nahitan Nández’s ex-partner, Sarah García, filed a complaint for alleged “domestic, psychological and patrimonial violence” by the Cagliari midfielder and the Uruguayan team.
When the Maldonado Justice issued an arrest warrant against Nández, he had left the country a day earlier.
The player, who was summoned to testify as investigated, issued a statement denying the facts, and her mother also counterattacked and filed a complaint in the Prosecutor’s Office against her former daughter-in-law for slander and simulation of a crime.
The footballer released himself with a statement in which he stated that “the reported facts are false”, while his lawyers filed a criminal complaint against his ex-partner for “attributing the alleged existence of violence of a different nature, from physical and economic and patrimonial, without any basis” to the footballer himself and his family.
Peñarol players were summoned to testify for violent chants
The Peñarol scorer Agustín Álvarez Martínez also had to face justice recently, after a video of the championship celebrations was broadcast in which he appeared singing a song from the stands that claims the murder of two Nacional fans in the decade of 1990, one by the Peñarol bar and another by the Cerro bar.
After he was seen singing the song that says “how am I going to forget, when we kill a chicken…”, the soccer player was summoned ex officio and testified before the Prosecutor’s Office by video call from Mexico.
Hours later, Álvarez published a statement on social networks in which he offered his “most sincere apologies to all those who may have felt offended.”
In addition to the striker, players Gary Kagelmacher, Facundo Torres, Pablo Ceppellini, Agustín Canobbio, Nicolás Schiappacasse and Walter Gargano, among others, also made statements. For the leadership was the President of Peñarol, Ignacio Ruglio, the technical director Mauricio Larriera together with Pablo Bengoechea and Darío Rodríguez. For the defense of the club was former president Jorge Barrera.
Nández, Mier and Hernández: those prosecuted for a fight after an altercation in the Copa Libertadores
Judge Julia Staricco prosecuted three soccer players from Peñarol without prison for the crime of brawling, as a result of the incidents that occurred on the field at the end of the Copa Libertadores match between the Uruguayan club and Palmeiras (Brazil) on Wednesday, April 26 of 2017 at the Champion of the Century stadium. The players prosecuted by the magistrate were Nahitan Nandez, Matías Mier and Lucas Hernández.
The judge determined, as a substitute measure to prison, that they were prevented from attending the stadiums as fans for two months, but they were able to do so to play the matches.
Uriel Pérez: the former Uruguayan player who is in the crosshairs of international justice
The former Uruguayan player and representative was investigated by the Justice due to his alleged link with Greg Taylor, a tycoon who headed the “Goal Cartel” in Mexico, as reported by Clarín in 2021. This organization located technicians who would later summon players who had their same commercial representation.
Pérez did business with Argentine clubs that put him in the crosshairs of a money laundering investigation. Those involved were eight and according to Olé, the court chaired by Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado is closely following the Uruguayan. The investigators presume that the former player had illicit business and triangulated the money between Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and the United States.
Maximiliano Arias and a white glove robbery
The former Peñarol and Rampla Juniors player was prosecuted for the theft of jewels in Punta del Este in 2011. The typified crime was reception and he had to be confined at his home for two months.
The lawyer Alejandro Balbi was his sponsor at the time and defended him, arguing that Arias bought a ring for a friend without knowing that it was stolen.
Diego García and a rape complaint in Argentina
The Uruguayan midfielder was prosecuted for “sexual abuse with carnal access” to a hockey player from Estudiantes de La Plata. Garcia was playing for that same club — from which he was suspended — and was loaned out to Talleres free of charge amid the scandal.
The 21-year-old girl reported that she was raped by the Uruguayan at a party on the outskirts of La Plata.
Orteman: alleged fraud within the football field
A Paraguayan judge prosecuted midfielder Sergio Orteman for fraud in 2011. The lawsuit was brought by a former president of Olimpia de Asunción, where the Uruguayan had played.
Orteman arrived at Olimpia from Central Español in 2001 and his transfer was paid for by the then president of the Paraguayan club, businessman Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb, who filed the lawsuit against the player in the Paraguayan courts.
It adds that the player was absent “surreptitiously from the country” after receiving 66,000 dollars from his transfer to Olimpia, in addition to receiving an annual bonus of 80,000 dollars, a monthly salary of 3,000 dollars until March 2004, as well as another 10,000 dollars for cousin.
Óscar Dastés: the midfielder who committed a femicide
Former player Óscar Dastés shot his wife to death in 2012. He then tried to commit suicide, unsuccessfully. At that time, they had two children ages 4 and 7.
robbery simulation
In March 2013, Justice prosecuted Walter “Zurdo” López, then a Peñarol player. López had denounced that his truck, with Paraguayan license plates, which he acquired when he played in Cerro Porteño in that country, had been stolen and appeared on fire.
However, in court, López admitted that he had simulated the robbery and subsequent burning of the truck, to avoid going to Paraguay and comply with paperwork every six months.
Therefore, he was prosecuted without imprisonment by Judge Homero Da Costa who also ordered him to do community tasks for 90 days, three hours a day, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The endless fights that ended with more than a dozen prosecuted players
Many of the cases of soccer players involved in problems with the Justice have their origin in acts of violence on the field of play.
In November 2000, the classic Clausura Tournament It ended with a general brawl in the middle of the field in which several players from both clubs participated. and even the coal coach at that time, Julio Ribas.
The criminal judge Pablo Eguren was the one who made the ex officio complaint and after taking statements, six Peñarol players (Martín García, Enrique De los Santos, Federico Elduayen, Fabián Césaro, Marcelo De Souza, Darío Rodríguez) and Ribas were prosecuted with prison , while on the National side there were three prosecuted with prison plus Julio Ribas, while one was prosecuted without prison. There were also three with National prison (Richard Morales, Marco Vanzini and Mario Regueiro). There were also defendants without prison in both tables.
In 2013, the goalkeeper of Nacional Jorge Bava was prosecuted without prison after the assault on a Policeman at the end of the Bimbo Cup classic. The crimes imputed by the judge were assault and personal injury.
In January 2014, one of the summer classics was played and after 80 minutes, Peñarol striker Fabián “Lolo” Estéanoff hit Pablo Álvarez, from Nacional, in the face with a punch, triggering a general brawl.
Judge Blanca Rieiro prosecuted Leonardo Burián, Diego Arismendi, Ignacio González, Santiago García and Darwin Torres, for Nacional, and Fabián Estéanoff, Carlos Núñez, Washington Aguerre and Jonathan Sandoval, for Peñarol, without prison.
The acting prosecutor was the current Colorado deputy Gustavo Zubía, who requested prosecutions with prison for those involved.
In 2017, Judge Julia Staricco prosecuted three Peñarol footballers without prison for the crime of brawl, as a result of the incidents that occurred on the pitch at the end of the Copa Libertadores match between the Uruguayan club and Palmeiras (Brazil) on Wednesday April 26, 2017 at the Campeón del Siglo stadium. The players prosecuted by the magistrate were Nahitan Nandez, Matías Mier and Lucas Hernández.
The judge determined, as a substitute measure to prison, that they were prevented from attending the stadiums as fans for two months, but they were able to do so to play the matches.
