A Spanish court has submitted a prison sentence for former Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti for tax fraud.
Carlo Ancelotti’s former Real Madrid and current head coach of the Brazilian national football team were sentenced to one year in prison by a Madrid court for his time in Spain.
The allegations have been reportedly emerging from his first season at Real Madrid in 2014, and he reportedly failed to announce revenues of more than €386,000 from the image rights.
Although prosecutors initially sought nearly five years in prison, the final sentence resulted in a significantly lighter sentence.
Ancelotti was also fined 386,361 euros and was banned from receiving public subsidies or tax benefits within three years.
However, under Spanish law, nonviolent offenders are usually suspended for less than two years under the first sentence, meaning Ancelotti is unlikely to serve his sentence.
The court held that the 66-year-old Italian coach used a complex maritime financial structure to cover up income, allegedly to avoid taxation.
Ancelotti, who took over as head coach of Brazil earlier this year, insisted that he did not deliberately fraud, insisted that his financial affairs were managed by Real Madrid’s consultants and that football was widespread in the football world at the time.
Although Ancelotti was convicted for lack of sufficient evidence, he was cleared of similar charges in 2015 due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The court also admitted that he fully repaid the outstanding tax by the end of 2021, with many factors reducing the initial fine from five years to one year.
This must be a crime is the latest development in the Spanish authorities in tax evasion in professional football matches, mainly La Liga.
