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Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti has been sentenced to one year in prison by a Spanish court for tax evasion. However, he will not serve time behind bars. The case relates to his first tenure at Real Madrid between 2013 and 2015, during which he was accused of failing to declare income and evading taxes amounting to 1 million euros (approximately £830,000).
Although he received a jail sentence, Ancelotti will avoid prison due to Spanish legal provisions that allow suspended sentences for non-violent crimes under two years when the individual has no prior criminal record. Instead, he has been ordered to pay a fine of 386,361.93 euros (around £333,046).
Ancelotti, 66, concluded a second stint with Real Madrid at the end of the last season and has since taken up his new role as the head coach of Brazil's national team.
In his court testimony earlier this year, Ancelotti stated that he had no intention of committing fraud. He explained that when he was offered a net salary of 6 million euros by Real Madrid, he left the structuring of the agreement to his financial advisers. He believed the arrangement was standard practice at the time, pointing out that many players and even the previous coach had similar financial structures.
He later paid back the owed tax amount in full in December 2021, ahead of the court's decision.
Ancelotti is one of several high-profile football figures to face legal issues related to tax evasion in Spain. In 2017, Lionel Messi was given a 21-month sentence for a similar offense while playing for Barcelona. That sentence was later converted into a fine of 252,000 euros, allowing Messi to avoid jail time. Cristiano Ronaldo, another global football icon and former Real Madrid striker, accepted a settlement that included an 18.8 million euro fine in 2019.
Former Real Madrid and Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho also faced legal action during his time in Spain. He was fined 2.2 million euros for tax-related offenses stemming from the 2011 to 2012 period.
Ancelotti's case adds to the growing list of football figures involved in tax-related disputes with Spanish authorities. Despite the sentence, his current role with Brazil remains unaffected.
