Why was coach Ancelotti sentenced to prison?

VHO - A Madrid court on Wednesday sentenced Brazil national team coach Carlo Ancelotti to one year of suspended imprisonment and fined him 386,000 euros ($452,000) for failing to declare income from image rights during his time managing Real Madrid in 2014.

Spanish prosecutors accuse Ancelotti of defrauding a total of 1 million euros between 2014 and 2015.

Under Spanish law, prison sentences of less than two years for non-violent offenses are not enforceable if the defendant has no prior criminal record.

Previously, prosecutors had requested a sentence of up to four years and nine months in prison for Ancelotti on two charges of tax fraud.

Ancelotti – who managed Real Madrid from 2013–2015 and 2021–2025 – was acquitted of a similar charge in 2015, as the court found insufficient grounds to determine that he had resided in Spain long enough to incur a tax liability. After being sacked by Real Madrid in May 2015, he moved to London.

A member of Ancelotti's team said his lawyers welcomed the court's ruling, but declined to be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The Brazilian Football Confederation has not yet commented on this ruling.

Spanish prosecutors accuse Ancelotti of defrauding a total of €1 million between 2014 and 2015 by using shell companies to conceal his actual income from image rights.

They argued that the Italian coach had used a company registered in the Virgin Islands, which had no real economic activity, as part of a tax evasion scheme.

Ancelotti is the latest name in a series of football stars to be investigated by the Spanish tax authorities, alongside prominent cases such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Diego Costa, who chose to settle and pay fines.

However, not everyone compromises. In 2023, the Spanish Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of Xabi Alonso, the current Real Madrid coach, after he refused to settle and insisted on pursuing his vindication to the very end.

Ancelotti is considered one of the greatest coaches in football history, the only one to have won the Champions League five times (three times with Real Madrid, twice with AC Milan), and the only coach to have won all five of Europe's top national leagues: England, Spain, Italy, Germany, and France.

Last May, he left Real Madrid to officially take over as head coach of the Brazilian national team.

Source: https://baovanhoa.vn/the-thao/vi-sao-hlv-ancelotti-linh-an-tu-150858.html