SportsNews

Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti faces over 4-years in prison after being charged with defrauding the Treasury of £800,000 by prosecutors in Madrid

Published

2 years ago

March 6, 2024

Carlo Ancelotti

Real Madrid coach, Carlo Ancelotti could reportedly face over four years in prison after prosecutors in Madrid charged him with having defrauded the Treasury to the tune of over £854,000 (€1million), according to reports in Spain.

The Italian manager is said to have not paid the necessary tax during his first stint managing the Madrid club between 2013 and 2015, despite being registered as a resident in Spain for tax purposes.

Ancelotti allegedly declared his earnings from his Real Madrid salary but is accused of having omitted money earned from his image rights, instead transferring the sum to other entities.

The former Chelsea and AC Milan head coach has been charged with two crimes against Spain’s Public Treasury by the Provincial Prosecutor’s Officer in Madrid, and as per Marca, a prison sentence of four years and nine months has been requested should Ancelotti be found guilty.

The total sum in question stems from the fiscal years 2014 and 2015, with the first year reportedly seeing Ancelotti fail to declare £33,813 (€39,575) and the second £577,340 (€675,718).

The prosecutors’ official statement with the announcement of the charges alleges that the 64-year-old set up a ‘complex’ and ‘confusing’ network of trusts and companies that allowed the money earned from his image rights to be domiciled outside of Spain.

This, the prosecutors stated saw Ancelotti pursuing opacity in the face of the Spanish Public Treasury and the concealment of the real beneficiary of his income from his image rights, so that neither he nor any of the said companies, would have to pay taxes on the large amounts received in Spain or outside our country’.

According to prosecutors, Ancelotti transferred his image rights to Vapia Limited for a period of ten years for £21m (€25m) in July 2013, shortly signing after his first three-year contract with Real Madrid.

Ancelotti is then alleged to have appointed himself at the helm of the company, ‘granting him the maximum powers of action to manage his image rights’, before later reducing the length of the period covered to three years and dropping the sale price to £854,000 (€1m).

He was then said to have transferred 50 per cent of his image rights to Real Madrid in a private contract, with the other 50 per cent being held in an ‘unnamed’ and ‘undetermined’ company named Vapia LLP, which was domiciled in London.

‘In this way, the accused used the company Vapia LLP so that it formally presented itself to Real Madrid as the owner of the image rights even though it had not even been formally attributed to them, since the aforementioned transfer contract of 1 July 2013 was with Vapia Limited,’ the prosecutors’ letter continues.

During his time at the club and while domiciled in Spain, Ancelotti is claimed to have ‘omitted all income corresponding to the exploitation of his image rights’ when filing his self-assessed tax declarations, which in 2014 amounted to £1.1m (€1.2m), and £2.5m (€2.9m) in the 2015 financial year.

SportsNews

EPL: Full list of players leaving for 2025 AFCON

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

At least 25 players in the Premier League are set to travel for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from December 21, 2025, to January 18, 2026.

Nigeria, Ivory Coast, DR Congo lead the way in terms of players based in the English topflight, with four selected from each club for the AFCON.

FIFA has directed clubs to release the eligible players from Monday, December 15.

Full list of players confirmed

Sunderland (5):
Chemsdine Talbi (Morocco), Reinildo (Mozambique), Bertrand Traoré (Burkina Faso), Arthur Masuaku (DR Congo), Noah Sadiki (DR Congo).

Manchester United (3):
Bryan Mbeumo (Cameroon), Amad Diallo (Ivory Coast), Noussair Mazraoui (Morocco).

Fulham (3):
Alex Iwobi (Nigeria), Calvin Bassey (Nigeria), Samuel Chukwueze (Nigeria).

Burnley (3):
Axel Tuanzebe (DR Congo), Lyle Foster (South Africa), Hannibal Mejbri (Tunisia).

Nottingham Forest (2):
Ibrahim Sangaré (Ivory Coast), Willy Boly (Ivory Coast).

Brentford (2):
Dango Ouattara (Burkina Faso), Frank Onyeka (Nigeria).

Manchester City (1):
Omar Marmoush (Egypt),

West Ham United (1):
Aaron Wan-Bissaka (DR Congo)

Wolves (2):
Tawanda Chirewa (Zimbabwe), Emmanuel Agbadou (Ivory Coast).

Brighton & Hove Albion (1):
Carlos Baleba (Cameroon).

Crystal Palace (2):
Ismaïla Sarr (Senegal), Cheick Doucouré (Mali)

Liverpool (1):
Mohammed Salah (Egypt)

SportsNews

NNL bars fans from Ranchers Bees vs Adamawa United

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

The Nigeria National League, NNL, has announced that matchday six fixture between Ranchers Bees and Adamawa United will be played behind closed doors.

The announcement was made in a statement by the league body.

Only the State Football Association representatives, staff of both teams, kit managers and medical personnel will be allowed into the stadium.

Others are the match officials, security personnel and camera men.

The reason for the decision to play the game without club supporters wasn’t stated by the league body.

The encounter will take place at the Bako Kontagora Stadium in Minna on Saturday (today).

SportsNews

Nigeria vs Egypt Friendly Gets New Date

Published

6 days ago

December 8, 2025

Ekwutos Blog

Nigeria’s preparations for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations have taken a fresh hit, with Egypt confirming that the highly anticipated friendly between both nations has been shifted from 14 to 16 December.

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced the adjustment late Friday, noting that FIFA’s updated international release directive, which allows clubs keep African players until 15 December, made the original date unworkable.

EFA Vice President Khaled El-Darandaly explained that the new rule left both Egypt and Nigeria without full squads for the initial date.

Key Pharaohs players, including Mohamed Salah and Omar Marmoush, are now expected to arrive only after the new release window.

Egypt had already named its 28-man provisional squad and opened camp in Cairo, with head coach Hossam Hassan accelerating final preparations for a Group B campaign that includes South Africa, Angola and Zimbabwe.

Nigeria’s disruption is more extensive. The Super Eagles were originally scheduled to open camp on 10 December and progress through a streamlined friendly schedule before departing for Morocco. That entire framework has now been dismantled.

Under the revised timeline, camp will open on 14 December, leaving Eric Chelle with barely a week to prepare before AFCON kicks off.

The venue for the friendly is also now uncertain, with Cairo no longer feasible and both federations considering shifting the match to Morocco.

Nigeria’s build-up has been further destabilised by injuries to Ola Aina, Taiwo Awoniyi, Benjamin Fredrick and Felix Agu.

The shock retirement of captain William Troost-Ekong, winner of the 2023 AFCON Player of the Tournament award, creates an additional leadership vacuum in defence.

Chelle, who released a 55-man provisional list, must now trim his squad to 28 within a compressed window. Nigeria will compete in Group C alongside Tunisia, Uganda and Tanzania as they chase a fourth continental title.