Brazilian website Globoesporte.com is reporting that the money and goods stolen from the Spanish National Team last week in Recife was the result of a strip-poker party gone wrong.
The original robbery claim, leaked to El Mundo Deportivo and confirmed by FIFA, was that six players had money and possessions taken from their rooms following Spain’s 2-1 win over Uruguay on July 16th. Now more details have emerged claiming that the robberies occurred after the players engaged a group of women in some late night partying at the Hotel Golden Tulip Recife Palace.
More: Spanish players, Julio Cesar’s wife robbed in Brazil
Following last week’s reports, officials at the hotel called employees into a meeting to determine whether any of the staff had committed the crimes. After the employees professed their innocence, the hotel took to examining security cameras and determined the Spanish players were not telling the whole story.
The cameras showed numerous women entering the players’ rooms, where members of La Furia Roja had hired a band to play pagoda and were drinking beer and Caipirinha. When the band ceased playing around 1:00am, five members of the team and one member of the technical staff brought a group of women to another room and began playing strip poker.
The next morning, the women had left the hotel and the players realized they were short about €1,000.
Concerned about their reputation and with the images in hand, officials at the Hotel Golden Tulip Recife Palace confronted the Spanish National Team four days later. After reviewing the images Spain’s security chief, Raul Jimenez, and relationship manager of the Hotel Golden Tulip, Eduardo Barbosa, struck a truce and agreed to deny the incident.
Yet despite the truce, Brazil’s Secretary of Social Defense has asked the Tourism Police to launch an investigation into the incident. More details are expected to come as the investigation continues.