Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti will be tried on Wednesday for allegedly failed to declare income at the Spanish tax office, the last in a series of these cases targeting the country’s sports figures. Prosecutors are looking for a four -year prison sentence for the 65 -year -old Italian, accusing him of costing the Spanish treasure of more than a million euros (1.1 million dollars) due to undeclared benefits of image rights in 2014 and 2015. Similar similar cases involving footballers led to a conviction. The trial at the High Court of Justice in Madrid at 10 a.m. local time and is expected to last two days.
Prosecutors accuse Ancelotti of declaring only in his income declarations that personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during these two years, even if he declared himself a tax resident in Spain and said that his house was in Madrid.
They allege to have set up a “confused” and “complex” system of screens companies to hide its additional income during this period with its image rights and other sources such as real estate.
A judge leading to the investigation said that Encelotti had “recognized” the actions that deprived the treasure of money, according to a court document in 2023 seen by AFP, which could open the door to a last minute agreement with the prosecutors to settle the case without trial and avoid prison.
Ancelotti, who as a coach won a record of five trophies in the Champions League, including three with Real Madrid, rejected the case last year as “an old story which, I hope, will be resolved soon”.
“I have confidence in the legal and judicial system, so I am not worried,” he added last week after the court set a date for his trial.
“Of course, it bothers me a little if they believe that I have committed fraud, but I will testify hoping to convince them from the contrary.”
-Spanish Crackdown -Spain has repressed in recent years on the best football players who have not paid their due.
The former Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho was sentenced to a sentence sentence of a year after having contributed a guilt of guilt for tax fraud in 2019.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were both found guilty of tax evasion and were sentenced to prison terms that were canceled for the new offenders.
Colombian superstar artist Shakira in 2023 agreed to receive a three -year suspended sentence and pay 7.3 million euros in fines to pay a tax fraud case and avoid the trial.
The prosecutors had accused the singer of “Hips Don’t Lie” to defraud the Spanish State of 14.5 million euros on the income earned between 2012 and 2014, a charge that Shakira had denied, saying that she had passed to Spain full time in 2015. She was in a relationship at the time with the defender of Barcelona Gerard Pique.
Ancelotti took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed by Bayern Munich the following year.
The former international midfielder of Italy, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, succeeded Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Aside from his success in the Champions League, he won titles in the National League with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, Germany with Bayern Munich and France with Paris Saint-Germain.
(With the exception of the title, this story has not been published by NDTV staff and is published from a unionized flow.)
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