Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti has been handed a one year prison sentence by Spanish courts for tax evasion, though he will not have to serve any time in jail, according to reports from Spain.
The former Real Madrid boss was accused of failing to pay 1m euros (£830,000) in tax on his salary during his first spell in charge of Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015.
He will avoid prison but does have to pay a fine of 386,361.93 euros (£333,045.92) instead.
Ancelotti, 66, is the latest in a a series of high profile football names sentenced by Spanish authorities with sentences handed out to some of world football’s biggest names from their time playing or managing in Spain.
Ronaldo
As reported, Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo accepted an huge 18.8m euro fine while he was at the club in 2019. Jose Mourinho, who also managed Real Madrid was fined 2.2m euros relating to tax charges during his time there as manager from 2011-12.
Lionel Messi, as reported, while he was then with Barcelona, was initially given a 21-month prison sentence in 2017, but this punishment was then reduced to a fine of 252,000 euros, with no jail term attached.
Under Spanish law, any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time. Earlier this year Ancellotti was quoted as saying that he “never thought about committing fraud” as he testified in court.
Ancelotti said he was offered a net salary of 6m euros (£5.1m) by Real and that he left the structure of it to his financial advisers.
“I thought it was quite normal because at that time all the players and the previous coach had [done the same],” he said.
Ancelotti is understood to have paid back the debt in full in December 2021.
