Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa has been handed a six-month prison sentence and a €543,208 fine for tax fraud, although under Spanish law he will not serve jail time.
Costa, 31, pleaded guilty in a Madrid court on Thursday morning to evading €1.1 million in taxes on his image rights.
The charges relate to 2014 when the Spainish international signed for Chelsea from Atletico in July of that year and a complex set of deals assigning his image rights to a series of foreign companies.
Costa paid tax authorities the outstanding amount in full last year and will pay the €543,208 penalty on top of that.
His prison sentence has been replaced by an additional fine, as is customary in Spain for jail terms of under two years.
