Former Egypt forward Mohamed Aboutrika, one of the country's most famous sportsmen, has been sentenced to a year in jail on charges of tax evasion, local media reported on Tuesday.

A commercial and financial crimes court in Cairo passed the sentence against Aboutrika in absentia on Monday, the state-run al-Ahram newspaper reported.

The court found Aboutrika guilty of evading taxes on earnings of 710,000 Egyptian pounds (R574 664) for doing advertisements for a soft drinks and a telecoms firm.

The paper said the court ordered the former player who now lives in Qatar to pay 20,000 pounds as a bond to turn the prison term into a suspended sentence.

Aboutrika, 40, played 100 times for Egypt from 2001-13, scoring 38 goals and helping his country win the African Nations Cup in 2006 and 2008.