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#Post#: 104737--------------------------------------------------
Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: ECity77
Date: April 26, 2026, 10:52 am
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HTML https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/cql7ld1nxqro
#Post#: 104749--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: TheThingFromLewes
Date: April 26, 2026, 1:51 pm
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I look forward to hearing from our esteemed Italian expert Jad
on this latest debacle in the Italian refereeing fraternity.
#Post#: 104801--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: jad
Date: April 27, 2026, 9:14 am
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Than you, TTFL, for your compliment. I shall now have to try to
live up to it. Before I comment directly on the Rocchi case, it
may be worth mentioning briefly some of the other problems that
have affected refereeing in Italy this year.
1. There has been this season an unusually large number of
decisions, both on-field and by VAR, that have been deemed to be
incorrect, with the result that several top officials have had
to endure spells on the naughty step.
2. The head of the refereeing section (AIA) of the Italian FA
(FIGC) is facing a length suspension and, in effect, removal
from office for having put pressure on two employees to resign,
promising them alternative posts at the same salary, a promise
which he failed to fulfil.
3. There has been talk throughout the season of taking the
refereeing of Serie A and B out of the hands of AIA and creating
a PGMOL-like structure (could somebody not warn them?). The
upheaval at the FIGC following Italy's failure to qualify for
the World Cup (see below9 means that this is likely to be
shelved or even quietly forgotten.
And now to Rocchi. I think there is possibly both less and
more to this than meets the eye. Less because at the moment
there is only an investigation taking place, and investigations
like this sometimes peter out before they get anywhere near a
law court. And if they don't peter out, there is an awful long
way to go before a possible trial and even longer before a
definitive verdict is reached (after the usual three levels of
justice, by which point the charges will have been timed out
anyway). From what I have read, I also have a suspicion that
these investigations may have been prompted by denunciations
presented by one or more ex-officials who have fallen out with
Rocchi at one time or another.
More because there seem to be two distinct political elements to
this case. At the level of referee administration I have seen
it suggested that Rocchi, whose term of office in his present
post ends in June, has ambitions to become the next head of AIA
(see 2 above). Rocchi has often been a controversial figure
both one and off the field, and this latest incident hardly
enhances his chances in what is by all accounts already a
fractious environment. The seconds level is more directly
political and interacts with the forthcoming election for the
head of the FIGC, the incumbent having resigned after the
debacle in Zenica. It is rumoured that the government would
like not to have these elections (they want, it is alleged, to
scupper the chances of the candidate who seems at the moment to
be the favourite) and instead to appoint a commissioner to run
the organisation on a temporary basis (as happened after the
Calciopoli scandal of 2006). The government has no power to
take this step (and if they tried, all Italian teams would be
thrown out of all competitions); the only organisation that can
appoint a commissioner is the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI),
and up to now they have said that there are not sufficient
grounds for this. But the Rocchi investigations might be enough
to tip the balance.
You may find this hard to believe, but I have tried not to make
this too complicated. I hope it makes some sort of sense.
#Post#: 104822--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: TheThingFromLewes
Date: April 27, 2026, 10:58 am
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Many thanks for such a comprehensive reply and a thoughtful
analysis! Much appreciated!
I guess the main view from outsiders looking in across the
refereeing spectrum, is that Italian refereeing is in the
doldrums at the moment, and with all the latest controversies
and all the noise surrounding it, a major upheaval is needed to
restore confidence in that nation.
Someone needs to go in there and get a grip of the AIA and
reset.
It also highlights that it’s baffling how Italian officials are
still being appointed (albeit with Rosetti in command) to the
business end of the European games.
#Post#: 104880--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: jad
Date: April 28, 2026, 8:25 am
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Thank you for your reply. The current state of play is that
five officials have been named as being investigated: Rochi, his
deputy, Gervasoni, and three VMOs: Paterna, Nasca and Di Vuolo.
I was beginning to think that the whole case was looking rather
thin, but I read this morning that this investigation began in
2024 and that the examining magistrates have interviewed or
interrogated (depending on their status in the investigation) 29
serving or ex-officials. This suggests either that there is a
lot more to come out or (just possibly) that the magistrates
have just spent the best part of two years looking for something
that is not there.
My view of the problem with the top FIFA officials is that it is
cyclical, rather than structural: a period in the doldrums
between the retirement of Orsato and what I expect to be the
emergence of Sozza, exacerbated by some contingent factors. But
it is true that there have been problems with the generation of
FIFA referees promoted during the period when there were
separate lists for Serie A and Serie B (some of these are now
being quietly reincarnated as VMOs), and I suspect that at least
one FIFA nomination was a 'political' appointment.
I have no idea how you sort out AIA. The head of AIA is elected
and answers to the members (with dark rumours of promotions
being awarded in exchange for votes); recent heads of the
organisation have not been conspicuously successful (see above
and below). I suppose that in theory FIGC could do what the
government would like to do to it, i.e. remove the existing
leadership and install a special commissioner, but where would
you find someone who knew enough about the job without having
been part of the system that they are supposed to change? And I
cannot see the Italians doing some countries have done and
bringing someone in from abroad: the Italians know that they are
the best referees in the world, but they probably also suspect
(perhaps with more justification) that no foreigner would be
able to navigate through the political (in both the narrow and
the wider sense), cultural, regional and other intricacies that
bedevil Italian refereeing.
#Post#: 104881--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: jad
Date: April 28, 2026, 8:43 am
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Italian scandals tend to build up gradually to maximum
surrealism, but that was the starting point in the scandal that
led to the premature departure of the last head of AIA but two,
Alfredo Trentalange. At a certain point it was revealed that
when Trentalange appointed a new head of discipline, he was
aware that the gentleman in question was under house arrest
while on remand in connection with drug trafficking charges (he
was later convicted), a circumstance that made it impossible to
attend certain meetings where his presence would normally have
been required. Then other nefarious episodes from this
person's past emerged: he had been thrown out of the army for
being involved in forging medical certificates and on one
occasion, while acting as an assistant referee, had struck a
member of the coaching staff of one of the teams.
Clearly both Trentalange and his protégé had to go, though the
former was remarkably reluctant to do so. At the time it was
suggested that the disciplinary cases conducted by said protégé
might be reopened, not least perhaps because these involved
alleged irregularities with claiming expenses and one of the
accusations made against the head of discipline was that he was
in the habit of forging railway tickets to claim expenses for
meetings he didn't attend. I'm not sure, however, whether in
the end anything happened.
And you think the British government has problems with due
diligence!
#Post#: 109477--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: jad
Date: July 20, 2026, 8:29 am
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I have resurrected this thread, since there are developments in
the case(s) against Gianluca Rocchi & Co. The examining
magistrates investigating the part of the case relating to
alleged improper interference in the appointment of referees
have concluded that while certain irregularities did occur,
these were neither serious nor systematic enough to justify
accusations of sporting fraud. They are thus going before a
judge with a recommendation that this part of the case be
dropped. If the judge accepts the recommendation (probable, but
not inevitable), the paperwork will be passed on to the Italian
FA for them to consider disciplinary proceedings.
The other part of the case, which involves allegations of
improper interference in the work of VAR teams and which is
being conducted by a different lot of magistrates, is still
continuing.
#Post#: 109702--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: dave26
Date: July 26, 2026, 7:01 am
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Apologies if this has already been posted but Daniele Orsato has
replaced Gianluca Rocchi as the Italian referee designator (
appoints referees in Italy )
#Post#: 109734--------------------------------------------------
Re: Italian referee chief suspends himself
DIR By: jad
Date: July 27, 2026, 8:42 am
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Though only for Serie A and Serie B. Serie C and Serie D have
their own appointments officials. The post of president of AIA
(the head of all refereeing) remains vacant, pending an
election.
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