Shen Tianhao, Italy-based all-media reporter for Sports Weekly
"If anyone doubts the integrity of the referees, I can resign tomorrow."
At the end of 2025, in a TV program, Gianluca Rocchi said this. In Italian football this season, there are more controversial penalties than high-profile performances on the court, and as the referee assignor of Serie A and Serie B, Rocchi has always been the focus of great pressure. Now, Rocky is really in trouble: He is suspected of "jointly participating in sports fraud", facing prosecutors' investigation, and had to take the initiative to suspend his duties. The Italian news agency AGI was the first to report the incident, which triggered a huge response in Italy.
Three Major Accusations and Suspicions of “Knocking on the Window”
Why was Ronaldo investigated? To put it simply, the reasons mainly come from three aspects. First, the referee assignee is suspected of intervening in the VAR referee's decision-making in Serie A matches in his unique way, which is related to ultra vires; second, he is suspected of taking into account the preferences of some teams during the critical period of the season to arrange referee candidates that he "likes" and "dislikes"; third, he is accused of having his own cronies, focusing on cultivating the growth of some referees, and sacrificing the referee careers of others, which involves improper exercise of duties.
A letter of complaint submitted by Rocca, a former Serie A assistant referee, became one of the key materials in the possession of the prosecution. The content of the letter included both Rocca's emotional complaints and heavy revelations directly directed at Rocchi. Specifically, on March 1, 2025, in a match between Udinese and Parma, the visiting team defender Balog was in the penalty area. After a handball situation occurred in the game, Maresca, who was the referee at the time, did not make a penalty immediately, and VAR Paterna and AVAR Souza did not remind him. However, there was a knocking sound in the surveillance video of the VAR center. Paterna immediately turned to face the camera, and his lips clearly stated: "Is this a penalty kick?" Not long after, he reminded Maresca to make a penalty kick. Towan hit from 12 yards out and scored the only goal of the game.
This clip did not immediately cause controversy after the game. Udinese and Parma had no pursuit at the time. From a technical perspective, this penalty was actually a correct decision. The problem was that the way of intervention was Rocca's decision. The report claimed that the person who knocked on the window was none other than Locchi, the VAR center of Serie A and Serie B, located in Lissonne, a small town north of Milan. The VAR control room there was locked during the game, but the room had an inner window. Gervasoni, who served as the previous VAR supervisor of the Referee Association, was also investigated for similar reasons. In the previous match between Salernitana and Modena last season, the then referee Juya originally awarded Modena a penalty, which was later canceled after review. Gervasoni was suspected of being involved in the process.
Does Inter Milan really have a "list"?
Cases with the keyword "Inter Milan" attracted greater attention. The Nerazzurri club was about to win the 21st top league championship in team history, but it was unexpectedly involved in the case in a certain way. Among the 5 games investigated by the prosecutors in total, except for 1 Serie A and 1 Serie B mentioned above, the remaining 3 games are related to Inter Milan. They are: the 2023-24 Serie A match between Inter Milan and Verona, the Milan derby in the second round of the Italian Cup semi-finals last season, and the battle between Bologna and Inter Milan in the sprint for the league title last season.
Matters related to Inter Milan and Verona were included in the case file because the prosecutors received another report, but the identity of the "messenger" was a bit special. He was Croce, a lawyer from Verona. He was a loyal fan of Verona, and he also organized his own The party "Clean Verona" also participated in the mayoral election in 2017. In the game between Inter Milan and Verona, Fratesi scored the winning goal at the last moment. The scene of his crazy celebration afterwards, including the exposed underwear, is unforgettable.
However, before the goal, Bastoni seemed to have elbowed Duda, and the referee did not make a penalty. Croce reported the VAR and AVAR who were present at the time, that is, Di Volo and Nascar, because "they should have asked the referee to review this foul." Obviously, Croce's report has a very strong subjective element. Even if the goal is indeed accompanied by controversy, as long as there is no evidence that the referee team was influenced by external factors to make the penalty, it will be difficult to lead to any legal consequences.
The second round of the Milan derby against Bologna has something to do with the way the referee is assigned. According to the scenario reconstructed by the case prosecutor Ascione, on April 2, 2025, during the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-finals, Rocchi appeared at the San Siro Stadium and reached contact with those whose identities have not been disclosed publicly. During this period, a decision was made to appoint the referee Dove who "disliked" Inter Milan The purpose was to prevent him from officiating Inter Milan again on more critical and important occasions, such as the Coppa Italia final, or the sprint stage of the league championship; not long after, when Inter Milan challenged Bologna away from home, Inter Milan's "favorite" referee Colombo was already sent. As you can imagine, once such a scene was exposed by the media, it immediately triggered a heated discussion.
First of all, at the critical stage of the season, did Inter Milan "indicate" its preference for referee selection to Rocchi? Before the away game in Turin, Marotta was interviewed. He said that he only learned about the incident through media reports and that he was "surprised" by it. The president of Inter Milan firmly stated that the club does not have a list of so-called "like" or "dislike" referees.
On April 30, a newspaper called La Repubblica revealed more details about the case: During the first leg of the Italian Cup semi-final, Rocky actually made a phone call to someone in the refereeing industry. The call was monitored and became an item of evidence. "La Repubblica" stated: In the conversation, Rocchi mentioned the personnel responsible for referee affairs within the Inter Milan club. The prosecutor believed that it could be seen from the conversation that Inter Milan regarded Colombo as a "like" referee and Doveri as a "dislike" referee. It should be noted that "like" and "dislike" are not the original words in the recording, but the general terms chosen by prosecutor Ascione.
What is a "referee official"?
The current person in charge of referee affairs at Inter Milan is Giorgio Schenone, who has held this position since 2020. In addition to serving at Inter Milan, Giorgio Schenone also provides courses on behalf of the Italian Football Association's technical department. A few months ago, Marotta praised the work of Giorgio Schenone, saying: "His courses successfully enabled us to reduce the number of yellow cards."
The development of this case investigation has also popularized to many people a role that has rarely been heard of before. What does the person in charge of referee affairs do? It seems that in the scope of public opinion, clubs should never be involved with referees. However, in fact, many Serie A clubs have set up this position internally. Former referee Marco Gabriele, who once held this role at Lazio, explained his responsibilities and work content in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport:
You need to understand that the first time many players seriously study the rules of football is when they attend the Sports Director's Course after retirement. In their careers, many of them actually don't know the rules. However, in today's football matches, players on the field have to say to the referee: "His arm expanded the area of his body, so this handball should be punished." They need to master the appropriate language, and this is where we can play a role: teaching players to understand the rules.
We will also explain the way referees enforce the law because there are very obvious differences between them. Massa uses honorifics when communicating with everyone. He has a strong sense of distance and is also extremely strict. However, Maresca and Guida's conversational style is simpler and more direct. Sometimes I will also explain the characteristics of the opponent's players from the referee's perspective, just like when you are about to face Kvalac Helija, and you know that his direct opponent often receives yellow cards in the first half, then you must inform the coach and the team.
On the day of the game, when the club is at home, it is also responsible for receiving the referees. The person in charge of referee affairs will accompany the referee team to the locker room and ask if there are any special needs, such as whether a masseur is needed. After all, some referees have just officiated in the European matches a few days ago and are quite tired. After the game, he will arrange for the referee team to leave, such as calling a taxi for those who want to go back to the hotel or to the airport. In addition, he wants to ensure that the club's senior officials do not enter the referee's locker room, because only the club president or a representative can enter, and only to make courtesy greetings.
However, the person in charge of officiating matters could not call the referee assignee, who was Rocky. Once this happens, the person designated by the referee can inform the Football Association's prosecutorial agency. Of course, the situation would be different if the club members met with the referee's designee on the pitch or some other occasion, and it would of course be possible for them to have a conversation. ".
At this time, the Referee Association does not want to mess up the relationship with the club, so if Rocchi is assigning tasks, he specifically asks a certain team to avoid a referee who has a "conflict" with him. In fact, this is common sense. At the end of the season from the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2018, the famous Italian referee Orsato went to referee a major battle between Inter Milan and Juventus. In this game, Pjanic made a foul against Rafinha, which was likely to receive a second yellow card and be sent off, but Orsato did not make such a penalty. Juventus finally relied on Higuain to successfully overtake and enter the victory, and surpassed Naples at the end of the season and finally qualified for the Champions League. However, Inter Milan almost lost the qualification to participate in the European Champions Cup because of this. This made the Nerazzurri extremely angry. However, Orsato did not start officiating Inter Milan games again until more than three years later, in September 2021.
Public opinion on the defendant side? Punish the victim?
Another question is whether the influence exerted by Club A on the Referee Association and the Referee Designator is the same among those who disagree? Rocky, this time, fell into the whirlpool, and people dug out some words that Mourinho said in May 2023. At that time, Mourinho's Roma was tied with Monza, and he himself was sent off with a red card for protesting. In the interview after the game, the man known as the "madman" first angrily rebuked the referee Kiffey, who was officiating at the time, claiming that he was "the worst referee I have ever seen in my life." Then he went on to say: "Maybe the club will not treat this. "I'm satisfied with the situation, but I still have to take a risk and say this: we don't have the same strength as some other clubs. There is no way to say, 'We don't want this referee.' There are indeed some teams that will do that, and we all know this."
Of course, Mourinho's remarks three years ago were not necessarily directed only at his old club Inter Milan. The target of his attack was most likely "those clubs that are larger than Roma." However, based on the information currently available from various reports, even if Rocchi does assign referees "suitable for them" to Inter Milan, there is still no evidence to show that this is the instruction or pressure from club personnel. Therefore, no one at Inter Milan is currently under investigation.
Moreover, Inter Milan itself is also full of dissatisfaction. From last season to this season, the Nerazzurri have encountered many controversial penalties. Moreover, the two referee appointments mentioned above, judging from the final results, did not benefit Inter Milan. On the contrary, it was the opposite. On April 2, 2025, Rocchi was suspected of "arranging" for Doveri to call the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals over the phone at San Siro. Logically speaking, the purpose was to stop him from calling Inter Milan's other important events. However, three days later, on April 5, Doveri went to officiate Inter Milan's league match against Parma. Inter Milan did not win that game – it was their current coach Chivu who caused the Nerazzurri to lose two crucial points. On April 20, Inter Milan went to an away game against Bologna. During the game, Orsolini scored the winning goal in stoppage time. However, before that, when Miranda went for a throw-in, his position moved forward significantly. Regarding this situation, Colombo, who was called "Inter Milan's favorite", also chose to pretend he didn't see it.
In addition, in another key league match last season, Inter Milan lost to Roma at home with a score of 0-1. In this game, Ndika was suspected of committing a foul on Bisek, and then Rocky publicly admitted it when he appeared on the show, indicating that it was a wrong call. Returning to Rocca's open letter mentioned at the beginning of the article: he questioned the fairness of the penalty and also questioned why the VAR supervisor Gervasoni did not choose to knock on the window to intervene. This, of course, makes no logical sense – Rocca was mainly targeting his former boss Rocky, whom he disliked, and believed that since Rocky could "knock on the window and correct mistakes", others could do the same in other misjudgment situations.
The match was not officially charged by prosecutors, but the situation added to Inter Milan's accumulated dissatisfaction. Recently, Inzaghi said in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport: "I am shocked by this investigation. Last season, Inter Milan lost a lot of points due to referee errors and also lost the Super Cup. It is really surprising to be involved in something where we are the victim rather than the beneficiary."
Is there any suspicion of guilt? Rocky's wall fell and everyone pushed him
Overall, the Nerazzurri see themselves as victims of penalties, while rival camps seek to portray them as rule-breakers. This is the situation. In Italian football, the antagonism has become increasingly acrimonious during this investigation. In this divided situation, only one thing can To unify the views from all aspects, it is to denounce Rocky. Poor Rocky has not been found guilty so far. However, according to the information disclosed by Zazzaroni, the editor-in-chief of "Corriere dello Sport", he can hardly leave the house now, and even his children have been greatly affected.
When stopped by an Italian TV program, Rocchi expressed again, saying: "The way we work has always remained the same. I am transparent with everyone and everything." He believed in his integrity and firmly declared that, but his career in the refereeing world seemed to be inevitably coming to an end after this incident.
Not only Rocca mentioned above, but also his former colleagues denounced Rocchi. Former Serie A assistant referee De Meo said that Rocchi had a "rock-paper-scissors" code system for giving orders to his referees. Abattista, who left the Referees Association in 2024 due to "irreconcilable values", said the investigation gave him moral compensation. In his resignation letter 2 years ago, Abattista said that the Italian Referees Association was "raped by a group of speculators obsessed with positions and votes" and that "if you don't get off in time, this stench will not let anyone go." The interviewer was another former referee named Minelli. He said that everyone knows the unspoken rules of "knocking on the window". He also criticized the Italian referee system, saying that there is an "atmosphere of terror".
This is not the end. The letter of complaint written by Rocca was handed over to Antonio Zappi, then president of the Referees Association, last spring, who then forwarded it to the Italian Football Federation's prosecutorial agency. Prosecutor General Giuseppe Chinet felt that there was insufficient evidence to continue the investigation, so he chose to file it. However, this decision was recognized and approved by the Italian Olympic Committee's Sports Prosecutor General. Now, the Olympic Committee has asked Genai to retrieve the case files, and the case is facing a new trial. The original handling of the report letter (and related materials) by the Football Association Procuratorate seems to have been a little hasty, which has triggered widespread doubts.
It is worth mentioning that Zappi, the president of the referee association who received the letter of complaint, was suspended for 13 months not long ago for inducing the resignation of Serie C referee assignor Ciampi and Serie D referee assignor Pizzi. The reason why Zappi put pressure on these two people was to let the famous referees Orsato and Braschi succeed in Serie C and Serie D respectively. This is not the only scandal in the Italian Referees Association in recent years: in 2022, the association’s former prosecutor general Rosario Donofrio was arrested in connection with an international drug trafficking case (and later sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison), and the then president Trentalanger immediately resigned.
On Labor Day, "Corriere dello Sport" editor-in-chief Zazzaroni wrote an article sarcastically: "There are people like De Meo, Rocca, Abattista and Minelli. They are trying to cleanse the refereeing world because the world has expelled them. Another type is like Orsa. Tuo, Mazzoleni and Blaschi, they are eager to replace Rocchi and the 'Rocchi Gang'. "Zazzaroni firmly believes that Rocchi is a just man. At the same time, the incident happened to break out during the Italian Football Association presidential election, and the superiors expected to set up a special management body for the Football Association. Is all this just a coincidence?