FC Bayern Munich defender Lucas Hernández faces six months' imprisonment.

The Frenchman has to appear before the criminal court 32 next Tuesday in the Spanish capital and tell them in which prison he wants to serve his sentence.

He then has ten days to begin custody, as reported by the Spanish sports newspaper AS.

If Hernández does not keep the appointment, he will be advertised for a search, according to a judicial spokesman.

On Wednesday, FC Bayern will face the Champions League game against Benfica in Lisbon.

Hans-Christian Roessler

Political correspondent for the Iberian Peninsula and the Maghreb, based in Madrid.

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It's about an incident in February 2017. The girlfriend of the now 25-year-old professional footballer at the time had to be treated by a doctor in front of his house after a violent argument on the street. Both were sentenced to community service and a six-month ban on contact and proximity. A few months later, however, the couple reconciled, married and went on their honeymoon together; now they have a child together. But from the point of view of the Spanish judiciary, Lucas Hernández violated the ban that still applied; it remains in force in Spain even in the event of a reconciliation in order to prevent pressure from being exerted on those affected.

As a result, Hernández was arrested for a short time at Madrid's Barajas Airport on his return from the trip together. Since the order had not been officially served on his former partner, she remained at large. In December 2019, a Madrid court sentenced Hernández, who was still playing for Atlético Madrid at the time of the dispute, to six months' imprisonment. Since he has a criminal record, the prison sentence cannot now be converted into a suspended sentence.

According to press reports, the soccer player's lawyers, for whose transfer Bayern Munich paid 80 million euros two years ago, initially requested that the sentence be suspended.

They then appealed to the next higher instance, the Audiencia Provincial in Madrid, which, however, could take a long time.

Upon request, a spokesman for FC Bayern told the FAZ that the club would not comment on the case.