Former Spanish basketball coach Mario Lopez sentenced for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old player

Mario López , former coach of the under-16, under-18 and under-19 teams of the Spanish women's basketball team , was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months in prison for sexually abusing a player.

The victim was a 13-year-old girl who suffered approximately fifty sexual assaults from 1998 to 2002.

21 years later , the young woman decided to tell the facts and López was convicted.

The Provincial Court of Bizkaia granted "full credibility" to the victim who, for about 3 and a half years , suffered around 50 sexual abuses by the professional.

After 21 years, the player who shared the court with López at Lointek Gernika , filed her complaint in writing in June 2023. The trial took place in January 2025 behind closed doors, in Bizkaia.

The court ruling states that the minor participated in these meetings " without giving any kind of consent and with her will subdued by the control exercised by the defendant with support in all these circumstances."

The player said that she suffered the first touches when she went with López to watch a basketball game at the coach's home .

She also claimed that she continued to be forced by the coach to masturbate him and perform fellatio on him, both in Gernika and on a sports trip.

The attacks are believed to have begun in 1998 , when the 13-year-old player met Mario López, her 31-year-old teacher , at the Allende Salazar school.

Later, they met again at the Biscayan team Lointek Gernika , where the victim was a promising basketball player and the abuse continued, causing his performance to plummet.

The player recalled fifty cases of abuse during her complaint and detailed how López carried them out at his home , on sports trips and in the apartment where the minor lived with her parents.

The documents speak of “ attacks on her sexual freedom , which increased in intensity, including penetrative sexual relations , such as fellatio, as well as masturbation, as well as sexual relations consisting of anal penetration.”

The judges also noted the player's vulnerability due to her parents' alcohol problems , which made it difficult for her to defend herself and to report the abuse she was suffering.

The case came to light in 2023 , through a note in El País that claimed that Mario López was being investigated for alleged sexual assault of a minor.

As a result, Lopez was subjected to great social pressure . "From then on, my life was hell ," he admitted at the trial.

In his first statement before the Court of Instruction, the accused denied any sexual relationship. However, in the oral trial he admitted "kissing and touching", justifying it by saying that "everything happened with his consent".

During the court ruling, it was declared proven that the complainant's consent and will were " broken with violence and intimidation" by the aggressor.

There is also talk of a context of superiority of the suspect over the victim due to age, position and physical violence , from assaults to beatings.

The prosecution had requested at least 14 years in prison , while the complainant demanded 18 years for the damage caused.

Finally, the former Spanish women's basketball coach was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months for the crimes committed.

For all that has happened, he is convicted as the perpetrator of a continuing crime of sexual assault with carnal access and with the aggravation of being a particularly vulnerable victim.

In addition to the 13-and-a-half-year prison sentence, he must pay the victim 80,000 euros in compensation for the damages caused and will face being banned from coaching children's basketball.

The court also imposed a ban on him from coming within 300 metres of the victim or the victim's home for five years from the time he begins to enjoy prison leave or possible conditional release.