Gianluca Rocchi investigation: Italian football under spotlight for sporting fraud scandal

Gianluca Rocchi investigation: Italian football under spotlight for sporting fraud scandal

Serie A and Italian football finds itself under the radar once again for potential sporting fraud, with referees designator Gianluca Rocchi finding himself under the scanner.

La Gazzetta dello Sport and a host of other portals report that the Milan Prosecutor Office is investigating the Italian for putting pressure on VAR and assistant VAR for officiating decisions dating back to the last two Serie A campaigns.

The matter began in May 2025 with a letter of complaint (sent to the AIA) from Domenico Rocca, a 42-year-old from Vibo Valentia, a former assistant referee who officiated his final Serie A match in the Napoli-Fiorentina game on May 17, 2024, and his final Serie B match on May 9, 2025.

The issue concerns the 2024-25 season and was relaunched by agency AGI with an accompanying video showing referee Daniele Paterna turning to the glass partition separating the referees room in Lissone and asking if anyone had been awarded a penalty for a handball. His lip-reading showed him saying “it’s a penalty”, with investigators believing he was actually talking to Rocchi himself.

Immediately afterward, the referee Fabio Maresca for the Udinese-Parma match was called for an on-field review, so he could see that the penalty had been awarded.

This thread was brought to attention by assistant referee Rocca, who wrote a letter to the AIA, effectively sparking a controversy. According to Rocca, it was referee Rocchi who quickly rose from his post to repeatedly knock on the glass of Paterna’s VAR and AVAR room to get their attention, and they in turn called the referee for an on-field review.

It doesn’t end there. That complaint, which appears to have been archived at the sporting level, now resurfaces at the criminal level. Other matches in question are also under scrutiny, including Inter-Verona in January 2024, in which VAR Luigi Nasca failed to call an on-field review for Bastoni’s elbow on Duda—a clear error, but one that hasn’t been seen before. The fact remains that, returning to Udinese-Parma, Paterna’s turnaround is still under scrutiny by investigators. Rocchi, the referee’s designator, has made it clear he has no involvement and will defend himself on every level if necessary.