Bastia’s Brandao sentenced to month in jail for headbutting PSG’s Motta

Bastia striker Brandao has been jailed for a month and fined 20,000 euros for headbutting Paris Saint Germain footballer Thiago Motta after a match in August. Judges considered that the attack was premeditated.

Evaeverson Lemos da Silva Brandao leaves a hearing at the French Football Federation over his assault on Thiago Motta Reuters/Charles Platiau

Evaeverson Lemos da Silva Brandao, the 34-year-old Brazilian footballer generally known as Brandao, was not present in court because he was undergoing an operation on his right thigh following a training injury.

If he had been, he might have escaped with community service, magistrate Yves Madre said.

Instead the court sentenced him to a month in prison and a 20,000-euro fine for headbutting Motta, breaking his nose, after waiting for him in the corridor leading to the changing rooms.

The judges considered that he had planned the attack, having threatened Motta, an Italian born in Brazil, on the field after the PSG player insulted him.

Premeditation, which Brandao denied while confessing to the attack, made a prison sentence possible and the court said that it had taken into account the context of “the problem of violence in stadiums”.

Brandao was suspended from playing for six months following the incident.

Madre hinted that Brandao may benefit from a reduction of his sentence, meaning that he will not have to serve the month in prison