Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti given one-year suspended prison sentence by Spanish court
Spanish court sentenced Brazil coach Carlo Ancelotti to a one-year suspended prison term for tax fraud when he was Real Madrid manager in 2014.
The Madrid court also fined Ancelotti 386,000 euros ($452,187) during Wednesday’s proceedings.
Spanish prosecutors accused Ancelotti of defrauding the state of 1 million euros ($1m) in 2014 and 2015.
State prosecutors sought a prison sentence of up to four years and nine months on two counts of tax fraud.
But the former Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain boss, who no longer lives in Spain, will not serve jail time because the sentence is less than two years and he has no criminal record. In Spain, a judge has the discretion to suspend a sentence of less than two years for first-time offenders.
In March 2024, prosecutors accused Ancelotti of having used shell companies to hide his true earnings. They claimed Ancelotti, for example, used one company that lacked “any real [economic] activity” in the Virgin Islands as part of an alleged scheme.
Carlos Sanchez, Ancelotti’s press officer, told The Associated Press that the coach “will not make comments for now.”
Brazil’s football confederation (CBF) said in a statement that it was following the case.
The Italian coach is the latest in a string of major football profiles to face a crackdown by Spanish authorities over unpaid taxes, although none have actually been sent to prison so far. That list includes star players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as Jose Mourinho, another former Madrid coach.
