A handout picture released by the Atletico Madrid football club shows Atletico Madrid's Spanish forward Diego Costa wearing a face mask after arriving for a coronavirus test at the Majadahonda Training Complex on May 6, 2020. (HANDOUT / ATLETICO MADRID / AFP)

MADRID - Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa was on Thursday fined 543,208 euros (around US$610,000) and given a six month prison sentence after pleading guilty to tax fraud.

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The striker will not have to go to prison because under Spanish law non-violent first time offenders who are sentenced to less than two years in jail are able to avoid time behind bars by paying a further financial penalty.

Costa accepted charges of avoiding a tax payment of over a million euros, linked to his transfer to Chelsea in 2014 and also to tax related to image rights.

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He joins a long list of players from Spain's La Liga who have been fined for tax evasion, with Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas among those who have previously appeared in court for similar offences.