Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti to stand trial accused of €1m tax fraud

Prosecutors claim that, despite his status as a Spanish resident for tax purposes, the coach declared only his personal earnings from the club and omitted the income he received from the sale of his image rights

Real Madrid's head coach Carlo Ancelotti says he has "total confidence in the law and in justice". File picture: Bernat Armangue/AP Photo

The Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti, will appear in court on Wednesday to stand trial on charges of defrauding Spain’s tax office of more than €1m (£836,857) in undeclared earnings from image rights in 2014 and 2015.

Prosecutors, who are seeking a jail term of four years and nine months, allege that the 65-year-old former Chelsea and Everton manager used shell companies outside Spain to create “opacity vis-a-vis the Spanish treasury … concealing the real beneficiary of the income from the exploitation of his image rights”.