Spanish tax agency accuses Cristiano Ronaldo of tax fraud – how should fans react?

Cristiano Ronaldo has been a hot commodity on the pitch. Off the pitch, however, Real Madrid’s talisman is facing the possibility of some legal troubles. Reports indicate that the Spanish tax agency is accusing Ronaldo of defrauding the Spanish government of tax revenue. Alex McVey is here to tell you why fans should care.

Adriana Garcia of ESPN FC reports that the Spanish tax agency accused Cristiano Ronaldo of defrauding the Spanish government for over €15 million.

The report comes just a day after the Spanish Supreme Court upheld Lionel Messi’s 21 month sentence for a similar tax fraud accusation.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s representing agency Gestifute claims that the charges are unfounded and that Ronaldo is compliant on his taxes.

The way Spanish tax cases work is that the tax agency refers cases to a prosecutor, who then decides whether to file charges in an individual case. In this instance, the tax agency has referred Ronaldo’s case to the prosecutor, who now has until the end of June to decide whether to file the charges.

The Spanish prosecutors have suggested that if Ronaldo is charged, he would likely face a 15 month sentence. Because this sentence is under two years, Ronaldo would almost certainly never spend any actual time behind prison bars.

Ronaldo attempted to remediate his deficient taxes in 2014 by paying the Spanish government €5.6m. Unfortunately for CR7, the tax agency determined that was insufficient, and that he actually owes €15 million more.

In the eternal competition between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, these charges of tax fraud often get bandied about by fans on social media to trash the players on the teams they don’t like. Madrid accounts troll Messi for his fraud accusations. Barca fans chirp back when the accusations roll in against Madrid players.

Sid Lowe on The Spanish Football podcast has said how troubling it is that accusations of tax fraud or other criminal activities get used as arguments in partisan bickering between fans.

And he’s completely right about that.

If the accusations are true, fans not just of Madrid or Barcelona, but all soccer fans should take them seriously, whether they’re coming from your favorite team or your most hated.

These accusations are damaging not just to the reputation of the player, but the reputation of the league. Take, for example the recent NPR headline: Financial Scandals Tarnish Spanish League. Or the Newsweek article, Spanish Soccer: World Champions (of Fraud). 

Tax evasion, fraud, and financial abuse are serious crimes, and should not be taken lightly.

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We should take these crimes seriously not because it allows fans to score cheap points in an argument against some troll from another team on social media. We should take them seriously because these fraud accusations damage the reputation of our sport and hurt society.

So whether it’s Lionel Messi, or Cristiano Ronaldo, fans of both teams should stop using accusations of off-the-pitch behavior to further their social media rivalries. It prevents us from taking these conversations seriously, and from coming together to agree that corruption should be rooted out of the sport we love.

You can still appreciate your favorite player, and recognize that they are a human being who may have made a mistake. However, if a player has made a mistake, they should be made to take responsibility for it as required by law.

We’ll see how this plays out for CR7. Check back for more information about this and other Real Madrid news.