Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Brazil, was sentenced to one year in prison by a Spanish court for not paying taxes on his image rights earnings in 2014, while he was managing Real Madrid, the statement said.
Ancelotti, who oversaw Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015 and again from 2021 to 2025, was exonerated of a similar accusation in 2015 because the court was unable to establish that he had remained in Spain long enough to be subject to tax obligations.
Following his dismissal from Real Madrid in May 2015, he relocated to London before taking over as manager of Bayern Munich in 2016.
Given that Spanish law rarely compels a prisoner without prior convictions to serve jail time for a sentence under two years for a non-violent crime, Ancelotti is likely to receive a suspended sentence.
He was charged with purposefully lying to the tax office in order to evade paying almost €1 million (£833,000) in income tax. Apart from the one-year jail term, the Madrid court also mandated that he pay a €386,000 (£332,768) punishment. The prosecution had been requesting a €3.2 million (£2.76 million) fine in addition to a four-year, nine-month jail sentence.
“The actions are obviously dishonest, and the arrangements used don’t follow a sound economic rationale.” It added, “The deliberate concealment of income behind ambiguous entities and structures in tax havens betrays a fraudulent purpose.”
Ancelotti joins the list of football players pursued by Spanish legislation, yet he escapes jail
However, since the term is less than two years and he has a spotless criminal record, the former Chelsea, Bayern Munich, and Paris Saint-Germain manager—who is no longer a resident of Spain—will not be sent to prison. The court dismissed Ancelotti’s fraud case for 2015, noting that it was not possible to establish “beyond a reasonable doubt” that Spain was his fiscal domicile for the year.
He joins the list of football greats who have been affected by Spain’s crackdown on celebrities who have failed to pay their fair share. In 2019, Jose Mourinho, the former manager of Real Madrid, entered a guilty plea to tax fraud and was sentenced to one year with a suspension.
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