Former Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti has been given a one-year prison sentence in Spain for failing to pay tax on his image rights revenues in 2014.
The 66-year-old, who left Madrid at the top of last season to develop into the top coach of Brazil’s national team, has also been acquitted of a separate alleged personal income tax fraud in 2015.
Ancelotti has been fined €386,361.93 (£333,029) by the Provincial Court of Madrid however the Italian will avoid jail time.
Under Spanish law, any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.
Prosecutors had sought a jail term of 4 years and nine months, and a high-quality of €3.2 million (£2.7m).
‘I got in contact with my British adviser and I didn’t think any more about it since it all seemed right,’ Ancelotti told the court in April.
‘I never thought a fraud might have been committed. But, provided that I’m here, I assume things weren’t done that right.’
Ancelotti becomes the newest high-profile figure in Spanish football to be found guilty of tax fraud related to image rights.
In 2016, Lionel Messi and his father Jorge were sentenced to 21 months in prison of defrauding Spain of €4.1m (£3.5m) in taxes.
In 2019, Cristiano Ronaldo admitted to committing tax fraud during his time at Real Madrid and agreed to pay a €18.8m (£16.5m) high-quality after agreeing a cope with prosecutors and tax authorities in exchange for a 23-month suspended prison sentence.
Jose Mourinho was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and agreed to pay €2.2m (£1.9m) in fines in 2019 after admitting tax fraud during his managerial reign at Real Madrid.
In 2020, former Atletico Madrid striker Diego Costa paid a high-quality of €543,208 (£485,324) after pleading guilty to defrauding the tax authorities of greater than €1m (£813,000) by not declaring payments of greater than €5.15m (£4.19m) from his transfer to Chelsea in 2014.
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