A football supporter has been sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for threatening Argentine star Ángel Di María in 2024 to stop him from returning to his boyhood club.
Sergio Di Vanni, 45, was found guilty by a court in Rosario of ordering acts of intimidation against Di María’s family.
The threats were aimed at dissuading the World Cup winner from returning from abroad to play for Rosario Central, a rival of Newell’s Old Boys.
A Campaign of Intimidation
Di María was playing for Benfica in March 2024 when the threats occurred. He was considering a return to Rosario Central, the club where he began his career.
The intimidation included gunshots fired near a gated community where Di María owns property.
A pig’s head bearing a bullet wound was also dumped outside an estate agency run by his sister, alongside a message threatening his daughter.
Rosario Central and Newell’s Old Boys, Lionel Messi’s childhood club, are the two major teams in Rosario and fierce local rivals.
A 25-year-old woman, Belen Gutierrez, identified by prosecutors as one of the perpetrators, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison in June after a plea agreement. A third suspect remains in pre-trial detention.
Prosecutors alleged the two carried out the threats in exchange for four million pesos ($2,600).
Di María Returned Despite Threats
According to the prosecution, the intimidation campaign was linked to an internal power struggle among Newell’s ultras. Di Vanni’s sentence also covered separate offences related to his involvement in the supporters’ group.
Following the threats, Di María considered scrapping his return to Argentina out of concern for his family’s safety.
However, he later changed his mind. At 38, he has spent the past two seasons with Rosario Central and helped the club clinch the Argentine title at the end of 2025.
