Julius OkorieReal Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, is to have a date in a Spanish court following alleged unpaid tax due to undeclared income, it was revealed on Friday.
Prosecutors are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months for the 65-year-old Italian, accusing him of having cost Spain’s treasury more than one million euros ($1.1 million) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThe trial will begin on Wednesday April 2 and is expected to last two days, a spokesman for the court said.
Ancelotti, who as a coach has won a record five Champions League trophies, including three with Real, must be present for the hearings, he added.
Prosecutors accuse him of only declaring in his tax returns the personal remuneration received from Real Madrid during those two years even though he himself declared himself to be a tax resident in Spain and indicated his home was in Madrid.
They accused Ancelotti of setting up a “confusing” and “complex” system of shell companies to hide his extra earnings from his image rights as well as from other sources such as real estate.
A Spanish court had in 2023 ordered Ancelotti to stand trial over the affair, but did not set a date.
Ancelotti dismissed the affair last year as “an old story that I hope will be resolved soon” when he was asked about the case.
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He took over at Real Madrid in 2013, leaving in May 2015, before being appointed at Bayern Munich the following year.
The former Italy international midfielder, who as a player won the European Cup twice with AC Milan, later, managed Napoli and Everton before returning to Real Madrid in 2021.
Ancelotti is considered an all-round quality coach following his success across the major leagues. Aside from his success in the Champions League he has won domestic league titles with Madrid and Milan, in England with Chelsea, in Germany with Bayern Munich and in France with Paris Saint-Germain.
Ancelotti, who will be leading Real Madrid to this year’s Club World Cup in the United States, is at the moment on the radar of Brazil, who are hoping to engage the multiple award winning coach to lead the country to the next World Cup after a recent 4-1 defeat by arch rivals, Argentina in the World Cup qualifiers.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
