Carlo Ancelotti is on trial for possible tax evasion. At the start of the process, the real coach denies an intention to fraud.
Coach Carlo Ancelotti from Spanish football record champion Real Madrid at the beginning of his process for tax evasion due to tax evasion.
“I never thought of cheating,” said the Italian at the hearing on Wednesday morning in Madrid. In his statement in court, he also claimed that he realized the remuneration system himself. “I never realized that something was wrong.”
Carlo Ancelotti denies any intention to fraud
Ancelotti will be accused of having hidden its income from image rights and other sources of income of over one million euros in 2014 and 2015 with the help of a “confusing” and “complex” system of mailbox companies from the Spanish tax authorities.
The public prosecutor calls for the 65-year-old to be sentenced to a prison sentence of four years and nine months and a fine of more than three million euros.
Process start: Ancelotti worked “relaxed”
Ancelotti arrived at the Supreme Court in the Spanish capital on Wednesday morning together with his son Davide and his wife Mariann Barrena McClay at the Supreme Court, wore an elegant black suit, worked “relaxed” and, according to his own statements, was “confident”, as AFP reporter reported. The negotiation is initially scheduled for two days.
“I have full trust in law and justice and I am not worried. I look forward to making my statement,” Ancelotti had emphasized in advance. According to a court document from 2023, which the AFP news agency was able to see a year ago, Ancelotti admitted the facts as part of the examination.
In previous tax criminal proceedings against prominent accused, such as Lionel Messi (2016), Cristiano Ronaldo (2018) or José Mourinho (2019), they had sometimes been guilty and in return got a milder punishment. “All players do it, Mourinho had that too,” said Ancelotti. Xabi Alonso, currently a trainer of Bayer Leverkusen and possible successor to Ancelotti at Real, was also acquitted in a similar case in 2023.
Ancelotti had trained Real for the first time from 2013 to 2015, after stations at Bayern Munich, SSC Naples and FC Everton, he took over the royal again in 2021. His contract runs until 2026.