Diego Costa: Atletico Madrid forward fined for tax fraud\, avoids prison time

Diego Costa: Atletico Madrid forward fined for tax fraud, avoids prison time

Diego Costa Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption Costa joined Chelsea from Atletico in 2014, before returning to the La Liga club in 2017

Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa has been sentenced to six-months in prison and handed a fine of €543,208 (£485,324) for tax fraud.

Costa, 31, pleaded guilty to defrauding the state of more than 1m euros (£813,000) by not declaring payments of more than 5.15m euros (£4.19m) from his 2014 move to Chelsea in the UK.

In addition, he did not declare more than 1m euros in image rights.

Under Spanish law, he will not serve prison time.

The country's legal system allows sentences under two years for non-violent crimes to be exchanged for a fine.

Costa re-joined Atletico from Chelsea in 2017.