Italian football is in danger of a major upheaval. In an investigation by Milan prosecutors, the head of referees Gianluca Rocchi is accused of complicity in sports fraud.
The focus is on referee decisions for several Serie A and Coppa Italia matches involving Inter.
The investigation notice reviewed by AGI contains three charges. One of them states that Rocchi, “as a referee appointor, in collaboration with several others at the San Siro stadium, ‘arranged’ the appointment of Andrea Colombo as referee of the Serie A match Bologna-Inter (20 April 2025).
The ‘Nerazzurretti’ lost this match 1-0 with a goal from Orsolini, as the ‘referee’ favored by the visiting team, Inter, which is engaged in the race for the Scudetto, now in the final stages of the football season.
In the second charge, the scenario expands. Rocchi, the prosecutor writes, “while the referee in collaboration with several persons at the San Siro stadium, during the first match of the Italian Cup (April 2, 2025), ‘fixed’ or ‘protected’ the appointment of the match referee Daniele Doveri.
This happened by placing him in charge of the semi-finals of the tournament (April 23, 2025) in order to ensure that Inter’s matches would be judged by designated referees other than the ‘unwanted’ Dover for the possible subsequent Coppa Italia final and for the remaining Serie A matches, which were of “greater interest to the Milanese team”.
