Spanish prosecutors accuse Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti of tax fraud

Spanish prosecutors have called for Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti to be jailed for four years and nine months for allegedly failing to declare earnings to the tax office.

Prosecutors said in a statement Wednesday that they are accusing Ancelotti of two accounts of tax fraud worth 1 million euros ($1,1m).

The Madrid state prosecutor’s office has accused the 64-year-old Italian of having deprived Spain’s treasury of the earnings from image rights that he did not declare in 2014 and 2015.

They have accused him of allegedly setting up a “confusing” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings.

A Spanish court in July ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair but no date has been set.

Ancelotti coached Madrid from 2013 to 2015 before rejoining the club in 2021.

Ancelotti is one of football’s most successful coaches. He is the only coach to have won the Champions League four times, twice with Madrid and twice with AC Milan, and the only coach to have won domestic league titles in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France.

Spain has cracked down on top football players who have not paid their due.

Former Madrid coach Jose Mourinho received a one-year suspended sentence after reaching a guilty plea for tax fraud in 2019. Star players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have also been found guilty of tax fraud in Spain.