Prosecutors in Spain have called for Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti to be jailed for four years and nine months for allegedly avoiding one million euros (£854,000) in tax.
The charges relate to image rights revenues during his first spell in charge of the club in 2014-15.
The Madrid Community Prosecutor’s office accuses the Italian of creating a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide extra earnings.
Ancelotti returned to Madrid in 2021.
His lawyer declined to provide a comment to Reuters and La Liga club Real have also not commented.
League leaders Real host RB Leipzig in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday night.
Reuters and AFP said the 64-year-old Italian had been charged with two crimes of tax fraud.
“Although he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated that his home was in Madrid, he only declared in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid,” the prosecutor said in a statement, reported by AFP.
He was also accused of having “simulated” the transfer of his image rights to entities “without any real activity” based outside of Spain to avoid paying taxes.
Ancelotti is one of football’s most successful managers having had spells at the likes of Juventus, Chelsea, AC Milan, Bayern Munich and Everton during his career.
He is the only man to have won league titles in England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, and to have won the Champions League four times.
Spain has cracked down on a number of sports stars and celebrities in recent years for alleged tax avoidance.
In 2017 Argentina striker Lionel Messi was handed a 21-month jail sentence, later reduced to a fine, after being found guilty of defrauding Spain of 4.1m euros (£3.5m) during his time at Barcelona.
In 2019, Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo accepted an €18.8m (£16.6m) fine for tax evasion charges while he was a Real Madrid player.
The deal included a 23-month jail sentence but in Spain, convicts do not usually do time for sentences under two years.
Later that year former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho was fined for a similar offence during his time in charge of Madrid.
Source: BBC
