La Liga
Prosecutors seek jail term for Real Madrid coach Ancelotti over alleged tax fraud
Real Madrid’s legendary coach Carlo Ancelotti will go on trial next week for allegedly failing to declare income to Spain’s tax office, the Madrid court which will hear the case has said.
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.
The trial will begin on Wednesday and it 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 accuse Ancelotti of allegedly 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 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.
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.
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.
-AFP
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Spain’s former soccer chief Luis Rubiales told Reuters on Thursday he would appeal a court ruling which found him guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent.-
-Reuters
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Spain’s High Court said on Thursday it had found former soccer federation boss Luis Rubiales guilty of sexual assault for kissing player Jenni Hermoso without her consent and set a fine of over 10,000 euros ($10,434.00), but acquitted him of coercion.
Prosecutors had sought a prison sentence for Rubiales in a case that sparked a debate in Spain about sexism in women’s football and wider Spanish society.
“The ruling bans Rubiales from going within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso and from communicating with her for one year,” the court said in a statement.
Rubiales, 47, was accused of sexual assault for kissing Hermoso on the mouth. He was also accused – along with three other former soccer federation officials – of attempting to then coerce her into saying the kiss, at the 2023 World Cup awards ceremony in Sydney, was consensual.
A lawyer for Hermoso was not immediately available for comment.
-Reuters
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Real Madrid defender David Alaba will be out of action after picking up an adductor injury in his left leg, the LaLiga club said on Tuesday.
Having recently come back more than a year after sustaining an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear, Madrid did not provide a potential date for the 32-year-old Austria captain’s return after the latest setback.
Madrid visit Leganes in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals on Wednesday, followed by a league derby against Atletico Madrid at home on Saturday and a trip to Manchester City in the Champions League knockout phase playoffs on Feb. 11.
“Following tests carried out on our player David Alaba by Real Madrid Medical Services, he has been diagnosed with an adductor injury in his left leg. His progress is being monitored,” Madrid said in a statement.
Madrid top the LaLiga standings with 49 points from 22 matches, one point ahead of second-placed Atletico.
-Reuters
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