Italy faces a new scandal that threatens the arbitration system

Referee coordinator in the Italian First and Second Division, Gianluca Rocchi, is preparing to appear before the court, the day after tomorrow, Thursday, as a result of his accusation of exerting pressure on arena referees and influencing the decisions of VAR referees during matches in the first division, in a new scandal that threatens the pillars of the Italian arbitration system.
The roots of the case go back to May 2025, when former assistant referee Domenico Rocca – who played his last Premier League match between Napoli and Fiorentina in 2024 – submitted an official letter of complaint to the Italian arbitration authority, accusing Rocchi of direct and illegal interference in the operation of the VAR.
Although the sports judiciary initially rejected the complaint, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the emergence of new evidence and video clips brought the case back to the forefront, but this time through the criminal prosecutor’s portal.
The criminal investigation centers on the events of the Udinese-Parma match that took place in March 2025, as video clips showed referee Paterna (the VAR referee) turning towards the glass partition in the Lissoni Centre, asking whether a penalty kick should be awarded.
According to Rocca’s testimony, Gianluca Rocchi not only watched, but he “quickly got up and knocked on the glass forcefully and more than once” to attract the attention of the VAR crew (Paterna and Souza), which is an act that is strictly prohibited, as any outside interference with the crew that is technically managing the match is prohibited. This interference later led to referee Maresca being summoned to review the shot and his decision to award a controversial penalty kick.
The investigations are not limited to the Udinese incident only, but have extended to include other matches that sparked widespread controversy, most notably the Inter Milan-Verona match in January. In that match, the video referee overlooked calling the referee to review Inter Milan player Alessandro Bastoni’s elbow strike to Verona player Ondrej Duda at the time, a shot that was described as a clear and unprecedented error, which places the integrity of the decisions taken in that period under the microscope of forensic scrutiny.