Footballers and coaches earn unbelievable amounts of money every week. Not just playing, they rake in even more through image rights, sponsorship deals and more.
Footballers and coaches earn unbelievable amounts of money every week. Not just playing, they rake in even more through image rights, sponsorship deals and more.
However, after all the money earned, these famous stars don’t want to give back to the government. Embroiled in many such controversies are Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Famous Portugal coach Jose Mourinho has recently joined the list of fraudsters after he was accused of committing the crime in 2011 and 2012 when he coached Spanish giants Real Madrid.
A look at the list of footballers and their tax evasion stories most of which took place in Spain:
1. Jose Mourinho
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Manchester United ex-coach Jose Mourinho accepted a one-year jail sentence he won’t have to serve and a fine of close to €2 million for tax fraud as part of a deal with prosecutors revealed Tuesday.
The 56-year-old Portuguese football coach is accused of committing tax fraud in 2011 and 2012 when he coached Spanish giants Real Madrid.
(Image: Reuters)
2. Cristiano Ronaldo
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Suspicions against Ronaldo were raised after the so-called “Football Leaks” suggested that Ronaldo had underreported his income.
He reached a deal with Spanish authorities to pay a fine for tax evasion €18.8 million (US$21.73 million) in taxes, fines, and interest, and accept a two-year jail term.
(Image: Reuters)
3. Lionel Messi
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After the charges against Messi were made public, he tried to clear the tax debt, making a "corrective payment" of €5 million ($6.57 million U.S.).
(Image: Reuters)
4. Javier Mascherano
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Javier Mascherano was accused of tax fraud in 2015. Mascherano admitted he failed to pay taxes for the years 2011 and 2012.
Like Messi, Mascherano’s tax woes involved assigning image rights to companies located in tax havens.
Before the plea, Mascherano did settle an outstanding tax bill by paying €1.5 million (US$1.69 million) in taxes plus €200,000 (US$225,860) in interest.
Following his guilty plea, Mascherano was fined €815,000 (US$880,078) and sentenced to 12 months in prison (four months for the 2011 charges and eight months for the 2012 charges).
(Image: AFP)
5. Neymar
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In 2015, Brazilian Judge Carlos Muta charged Neymar with “omitting sources of income from abroad” from 2011 to 2013, resulting in a tax loss to the government of nearly $20 million. Judge Muta ordered 188.8 million reals (US$47.75 million) of Neymar’s assets frozen.
In 2017, Neymar’s lawyer declared that Neymar was willing to pay a fine of £1.9 million (US$2.49 million) to settle those claims.
While Neymar was ultimately cleared of tax fraud, he was levied with a fine of 3.8 million Brazilian reales (US$1.18 million) for actions related to his case.
(Image: AFP)
6. Marcelo
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Real Madrid defender Marcelo had accepted a four-month suspended prison sentence and a €750,000 fine as part of a deal to settle a Spanish tax fraud case.
The 30-year-old, however, did not spend time in prison. The Spanish law stated that a sentence of under two years for a first offence can be served on probation.
(Image: AFP)
7. Angel Di Maria
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He was accused of two charges relating to his image rights. The player gave up his image rights to companies based in tax havens like Panama.
(Image: AFP)
