Four Vélez Sarsfield players were accused on Thursday of sexual assault following a match the first division team played in Tucumán. Sebastian Sosa, Braian Cufré, Abiel Osorio, and Jose Florentin are the four men accused. Although no charges have been pressed yet, the club has already separated them from the squad. The Crimes Against Sexual Integrity Unit Number 1 of Tucumán is handling the accusation.

The information was known after the police report was made public and Vélez decided to separate the players. According to the report, Sosa invited a 24-year-old woman to the team’s hotel via messages to her Instagram after their 0-0 tie against Atlético Tucuman on March 2. Upon arrival at around 10 p.m., she found Cufré, Osorio, and Florentín were also in the room. 

The women said that the five of them shared beer and drinks in the room. At one point, she reported feeling ill and dizzy and lying down on one of the beds. It was at this point that she said she was sexually abused. She left at around 5:30 a.m. once her condition improved and was able to ask for a ride home.

Velez Sarsfield released an official statement saying that the club’s resources were available for investigators. “Due to the seriousness of the accusation, the Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield board of directors makes themselves fully available to the Tucuman judiciary to add any information required to solve the case,” the club stated.

The club also said that the decision to separate the accused players from the squad, which means they won’t be available to the coach, is based on the club’s gender violence protocol. In 2018, Vélez was the first club in Argentina to implement a protocol against cases of discrimination, stalking, and sexual abuse or harassment. It first kicked into action when players Miguel Brizuela and Thiago Almada were part of a similar accusation in 2021.