Gianluca Rocci: Prosecutors ask referee to drop sporting fraud case

Prosecutors in Milan have requested that a sports fraud case against Gianluca Rocchi, the man in charge of appointing referees in Italy’s top flight, be dismissed.

Former international referee Dr He suspended himself in April After being placed under investigation for “involvement in sports fraud” during the 2024-25 season.

Rocchi, the referee-designate of the National Refereeing Commission for Serie A and Serie B, has always protested his innocence.

According to the Italian news agency Ansa,, outsider Prosecutors concluded after a two-year investigation that there was no evidence of match-fixing, saying they had not “identified a structured system aimed at interfering with appointments”.

It was claimed that Rocchi was behind the referee selection for the Inter Milan game because he “liked Inter”.

A video assistant referee’s decision not to intervene when an Inter player elbowed an opponent in another game was also under investigation.

At the same time, the case against Inter has also been dropped.

Rocci is also accused of pressuring the VAR official to encourage the referee to check the referee on the pitchside monitor for a handball offense during Udinese’s 1-0 win over Parma in March last year.

The referee and VAR officials had already decided not to award a penalty but changed their minds, it is claimed, resulting in Florian Thauvin scoring the only goal of the game.

Prosecutors have now sent case documents to the Sports Judicial Authority and the Italian Olympic Committee’s General Prosecutor’s Office to assess whether there was any breach of discipline in any sporting context.

Sports cheating is a criminal offense in Italy and carries a maximum sentence of six years in prison.