Italian soccer is grappling with yet another high-profile crisis, this time a criminal investigation into top refereeing officials for alleged sports fraud, coming just weeks after the men’s national team suffered a devastating third consecutive failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Gianluca Rocchi, the chief of refereeing operations for Italy’s top two men’s divisions, Serie A and Serie B, has been named in a criminal probe connected to claims of match influence through referee selection and Video Assistant Referee (VAR) manipulation. He will make his first court appearance in Milan this Thursday. Andrea Gervasoni, a senior VAR supervisor working alongside Rocchi, is also facing the same criminal investigation.
In response to the investigation announcement, Rocchi has voluntarily stepped back from his official post pending the outcome of the judicial process. He stands accused of two key violations: manipulating VAR match decisions and altering pre-assigned referee selections for high-stakes fixtures to favor specific clubs.
Serie A president Ezio Simonelli released an official statement addressing the unfolding scandal, emphasizing the league’s core commitment to upholding transparency and fair play across all competitions. “Trusting in the work of the competent judicial bodies, it cannot be a notice of investigation that calls into question the intellectual honesty and the work of an entire system,” Simonelli said. “If it turns out that someone made a mistake, it will be right for them to pay. But it is never allowed to question the credibility of the system and the regularity of the championship.”
The investigation centers on incidents that occurred during the ongoing 2024-25 Serie A season. One specific incident under scrutiny is the March 1, 2025 league match between Udinese and Parma, where Rocchi allegedly intervened in VAR operations by banging on the window of the VAR officiating booth and pressuring officials to conduct an on-field review of a potential penalty call.
Italian media reports have also outlined a second line of inquiry into Rocchi’s referee assignment process. Investigators are examining claims that he re-assigned a scheduled referee for an Inter Milan fixture to an official alleged to be more favorable to the Nerazzurri, the club’s popular nickname. Inter Milan, which finished the 2024-25 season just one point behind eventual champions Napoli, has not been implicated in any wrongdoing connected to the alleged incident.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) previously opened an internal disciplinary probe into the Udinese-Parma VAR incident last year, but ultimately dismissed all proceedings against Rocchi in July. The scandal has now been reignited after Milan judicial authorities launched the formal criminal investigation, bringing fresh scrutiny to Italian soccer’s governing structures.
FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné confirmed that the federation is maintaining close communication with Milan’s public prosecutor’s office, and has stated that the governing body will reconsider reopening its own internal investigation if new, credible evidence emerges from the criminal probe.
This latest controversy arrives at a moment when Italian soccer is already reeling from institutional upheaval. Earlier this month, the men’s national team failed to qualify for its third straight World Cup, a historic slump that forced the immediate resignations of FIGC president Gabriele Gravina and national team head coach Gennaro Gattuso. Sports analysts note that the new refereeing scandal has deepened public distrust in Italian soccer’s governance, compounding the damage from the national team’s repeated international failures.