Gianluca Rocchi, the head of referees for Serie A and Serie B, has temporarily stepped aside after being placed under investigation by prosecutors in Milan for “sporting fraud”. Rocchi said on Saturday that he decided to “suspend himself” from his role assigning referees to matches in Italy’s top two divisions, describing it as a painful decision intended to allow judicial proceedings to run smoothly. The video assistant referee (VAR) chief, Andrea Gervasoni, is also under investigation for the same charge.
Rocchi is accused of having piloted the selection of Andrea Colombo as the referee for Inter’s match at Bologna in April last year because Colombo was “liked by Inter”. Bologna won the match 1-0 with a last-minute strike from Riccardo Orsolini. He is also accused of pressing a VAR official to encourage the referee to check pitchside monitors for a handball offence during Udinese’s 1-0 win over Parma in March last year. The on-field referee and the VAR official had initially ruled no penalty, but video footage shows the VAR official turning away and appearing to say “it’s a penalty” after being spoken to off-camera.
Prosecutors allege it was Rocchi who banged on the VAR room door to pressure the official into changing his decision not to review the handball, which eventually led to Florian Thauvin scoring the only goal. Sporting fraud is a criminal offence in Italy with a maximum sentence of six years in prison. The files will also be sent to the Italian football federation, whose own prosecutors could open a separate inquiry.
