Italy’s football crisis deepens as a Milan criminal investigation exposes alleged manipulation of VAR decisions and referee selection.
Italian football faces a fresh crisis by a criminal investigation targeting referee chief adn VAR officials. Five named figures within the Serie A and Serie B refereeing system are now under investigation by the Milan public prosecutor’s office. Sources confirmed on Monday that several further individuals are also being probed.
At the centre of the inquiry is Gianluca Rocchi, the referee designator for both Serie A and Serie B. Rocchi has been placed under criminal investigation for alleged sports fraud and is due to appear before the Milan prosecutor’s office on Thursday. He has stepped away from his duties while the investigation proceeds.
Also under investigation is Andrea Gervasoni, Serie A’s VAR supervisor, who has similarly suspended himself from his role. Three further VAR officials — Rodolfo Di Vuolo, Luigi Nasca and Daniele Paterna — are also among those being probed. Italian media report that all three are suspected of having provided false information during the inquiry.
It all stems from a Verona fan’s complaint
The investigation traces its origins to a complaint filed in 2024 by a lawyer and Hellas Verona supporter, following a 2-1 Serie A defeat to Inter Milan at San Siro. The match was decided by a goal allowed despite Inter defender Alessandro Bastoni appearing to elbow Verona’s Duda in the face in the build-up. The VAR official on duty for that game was Nasca; Di Vuolo served as VAR assistant. No intervention was made.
A second strand of the inquiry emerged in July 2025, when investigators spoke to Domenico Rocca, a former Serie A linesman who had independently filed a complaint about the refereeing system. It was Rocca’s report, filed a year ago, that first brought scrutiny to allegations of external interference with VAR reviews.
The accusations against Rocchi
The allegations against Rocchi are specific and serious. He is accused of sporting fraud in connection with three separate incidents.
The most striking involves the VAR room at the Udinese-Parma match in March 2025, which Udinese won 1-0 courtesy of a penalty. Rocchi is accused of having pressured a VAR official to review a handball incident that led to the decisive spot-kick being awarded. A video from inside the VAR room shows official Paterna looking away from his monitor and mouthing the words “it’s a penalty”. This was apparently in response to a knock on the VAR room door attributed to Rocchi, an act that would represent a fundamental breach of protocol. One of the key concerns in the case is the allegation that VAR personnel may have been subjected to coded instructions or external influence, raising serious questions about the independence of the technology designed to ensure fair officiating.
Rocchi is also accused of manipulating referee appointments with Inter Milan in mind. He allegedly selected Andrea Colombo to referee Inter’s away match at Bologna in April 2025 on the grounds that Colombo was “liked by Inter”. Similarly, he ensured that Daniele Doveri, a referee the club reportedly did not favour, did not take charge of any Inter match in the closing stages of the season or in the Italian Cup final. Inter lost the Bologna match 1-0.
Gervasoni’s investigation relates to a separate incident in Serie B. He is accused of irregular conduct in connection with a Salernitana-Modena match in March 2025, in which a penalty initially awarded to Modena was subsequently revoked following a VAR intervention.
The FIGC’s awkward position
The criminal investigation has placed the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) in an uncomfortable position. The federation had already investigated Rocchi over the VAR booth incident last year but dismissed disciplinary proceedings in July. The issue has now resurfaced with the launch of the criminal inquiry. FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné has confirmed he is in contact with the Milan public prosecutor’s office and will consider reopening the federation’s own investigation if new evidence emerges.
Serie A president Ezio Simonelli moved swiftly to defend the league’s integrity. “We have a duty to guarantee that the soccer system ensures transparency and equal treatment. It cannot be a notice of investigation that calls into question the intellectual honesty and the work of an entire system. If it turns out that someone made a mistake, it will be right for them to pay. But it is never allowed to question the credibility of the system.”
Both Rocchi and Gervasoni are due to be questioned by the Milan prosecutor’s office on 30 April.
