Carlo Ancelotti, the manager of Real Madrid, has been photographed in a Madrid court when his team is vying for more trophies this season. According to sources, the Italian tactician “never thought about committing fraud.”
Ancelotti, who is widely considered to be among the greatest football managers of all time, managed the Spanish powerhouses for 119 games between July 2013 and June 2015, earning 2.36 points per game during that time.
After his initial stint in Spain, he returned to the Santiago Bernabeu dugout in July 2021 and has since experienced many great moments, including winning two Champions League titles in 2021–2022 and 2023–2024. Despite this, he is still in hot water.
The 65-year-old allegedly failed to pay €1 million (£830,000) in taxes after he was accused of purposefully misleading the tax office during his first stint at Los Blancos. Prosecutors are reportedly seeking a four-year, nine-month prison sentence in addition to a €3.2 million (£2.7 million) fine.
Additionally, the former manager of Chelsea and AC Milan has been sued for failing to include income from his image rights. When questioned about his earnings from the sale of his image rights to the historic Champions League champions, Marca, via Mail Online, stated:
For three years, I was just focused on collecting six million net, and I never noticed anything was amiss. I also never heard that the Prosecutor’s Office was looking into me.
Ancelotti added, “I didn’t think it could be fraud, although if I’m here, I believe things weren’t so correct.” “When Real Madrid proposed this to me—referring to the transfer of image rights—I contacted my English advisor and never went into the matter because everything seemed correct to me,” Ancelotti said.
As anticipated, Ancelotti has pledged to fight the charges and is still denying any misconduct in relation to his case. He made an appearance at the Madrid Provincial Court a few hours after his team qualified for the Copa del Rey final.
The seasoned manager already acknowledged that he had underpaid his tax bill in 2014, but he was quick to place the responsibility on his accountants. Despite this, he continues to maintain that he did not violate any laws in 2015 because he did not spend the required minimum number of days, 183, to pay taxes in Spain.
Nevertheless, since Ancelotti did not take over as manager of Bayern Munich until the summer of 2026, the sources indicate that investigators believe that his main source of income during this time was from the La Liga team.
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