Former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti charged with tax evasion, handed year-long prison sentence

Brazil Manager Carlo Ancelotti is the newest person in football charged with tax evasion in SpainAccording to athletics. The first Real Madrid Manager was sentenced to a year in prison and has also been fined € 386.361 for not paying taxes on his image rights during the 2014 financial year. That was during his first spell that Real Madrid managed. He is not expected to serve for some time. Others who have been sued in Spain in the past are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.

Ancelotti was not charged for the tax year of 2015 because the court was unable to prove that Ancelotti was staying in Spain Long enough to get taxes, due to relocation to London after he was fired by Real Madrid. It is expected that this will not come with prison time as a result of Spain that rarely enforces prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent and first offenders.

The case was heard in the 30th criminal court of the Provincial Court of Madrid between 2 and 3, so that it was clarified that he had since paid his debt, while his defense was that it was Madrid responsible for determining the correct tax deprivation and that he never intended to commit fraud.

Ancelotti returned to Real Madrid in 2021, where he again coached before he took the job in Brazil in June 2025, but those years were not investigated during this case. The Spanish public prosecutor was looking for a prison sentence of four years and nine months with a fine of € 3.2 million, but both were lowered during the final conviction.

Ancelotti won three Champions League titles with Real Madrid, among others.