This is one of many tax fraud cases in Spain involving non-Spanish footballers.

Croatia midfielder Luka Modric, who appeared in a Madrid court this week as part of a tax fraud case, has reportedly paid €1.0 million to avoid a jail sentence, continuing a run of cases involving soccer stars in the country and tax allegations.

This publication had reported the footballer was being investigated by the Spanish authorities.

The Real Madrid star was in court for about ten minutes along with his wife and lawyer. The player's wife, Vadja, is also being accused of tax irregularities. Spanish prosecutors have accused Modric of defrauding tax authorities of €870,728 ($1.04 million) in 2013 and 2014.

Local newspaper El Mundo along with other media channels said Modric has already paid nearly €1 million to tax authorities to try to reach a settlement, as the player denies any wrongdoing.

The Daily Mail said that court and tax officials say they cannot confirm or deny the payment. Details of Modric's court appearance have not been released.

Footballers in Spain have been investigated by the tax authorities in recent years because of the abolition of the Beckham Rule for professional footballers. When David Beckham went to Spain to play for Real Madrid in 2003, a special Spanish tax system (Regimen especial para Trabajadores Desplazados) was set up for him so he did not have to pay tax on his worldwide image rights. This system was extended to people moving to Spain, although in an ironic twist, professional footballers were excluded from the scheme from 1 January 2015.

This has sparked investigations into the biggest stars in Spanish football since the abolition of the rule. In 2016, Lionel Messi and his father were found guilty on three counts of defrauding tax authorities of £3.4 million from income made from image rights. In June, this publication reported that former Real Madrid boss Jose Mourinho, now at Manchester United, is also being investigated.