Abuja, July 9, 2025 (CrestNewsOnline.ng) Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti has been sentenced to a year in prison by a Spanish court for tax evasion.

But the former Real Madrid manager will not have to serve time in jail.

Ancelotti who was also at Chelsea and Everton was accused of failing to pay one million euros (about 830,000 pounds) in tax on his salary during his first spell in charge of Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015.

While he will avoid prison, he does have to pay a fine of 386,361.93 euros (£333,045.92).

The 66-year-old had ended a second spell with Real Madrid at the end of last season and went on to take the Brazil job.

Under Spanish law, any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.

Ancelotti had earlier this year said he “never thought about committing fraud” as he testified in court.

The Italian said he was offered a net salary of six million euros (£5.1 million) by Real Madrid and that he left the structure of it to his financial advisers.

“I thought it was quite normal because at that time all the players and the previous coach had [done the same],” he said.

Ancelotti paid back the debt in full in December 2021.

Lionel Messi, then with FC Barcelona, was initially given a 21-month prison sentence in 2017, but this punishment was then reduced to a fine of 252,000 euros, with no jail term attached.

In 2019, Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo accepted an 18.8 million-euro fine in 2019.

Jose Mourinho, another former Chelsea boss, was fined 2.2 million euros relating to tax charges during his time as Real Madrid manager from 2011 to 2012.

(www.crestnewsonline.ng)