Gianluca Rocchi, the head of referee appointments for Serie A and Serie B, was placed under criminal investigation by Milan prosecutors on Saturday for alleged sporting fraud.

That’s right, the same league that saw its biggest club relegated in a refereeing scandal just 20 years ago has itself another one, and considering the Caso Negreira remains outstanding against FC Barcelona, there are big, ongoing questions over refereeing corruption in two of the world’s biggest leagues.

The core allegations are twofold. First, that Rocchi physically attended the VAR operations centre in Lissone and knocked on the VAR booth window to influence officials during live reviews — a serious breach of protocol. The specific incident under scrutiny is the Udinese vs Parma match on 1 March 2025, where footage shows VAR official Paterna appearing to look behind him mid-review and change his assessment, with Udinese subsequently awarded a penalty that won the game. Second, the allegations state that Rocchi manipulated referee assignments for Inter Milan matches, removing officials considered unfavourable to the club and replacing them with preferred alternatives — including allegedly intervening to have a specific referee, Daniele Doveri, excluded from certain Inter fixtures.

Rocchi has suspended himself from his role with immediate effect and will surrender himself for questioning this week. VAR supervisor Andrea Gervasoni is also under investigation, while three VAR officials — Luigi Nasca, Rodolfo Di Vuolo and Daniele Paterna — are now reportedly under separate investigation for allegedly providing false information during the probe. Rocchi and Gervasoni are due to appear for questioning in Milan on Thursday.

The FIGC investigated a complaint against Rocchi for the VAR booth incident last year but dismissed disciplinary proceedings in July. That decision to close the case internally is now in itself under scrutiny, as they examine whether anyone applied pressure to drop the investigation.

FIGC Prosecutor Giuseppe Chiné has said he is in contact with the Milan prosecutors and will reconsider reopening the FIGC investigation if new evidence emerges.

The Inter angle is the explosive one, and not just because they are currently ten points clear at the top of Serie A with five games to go and strolling to the title.

Italian newspapers are reporting that Rocchi's selection of referees is being examined amid suggestions he changed the official for an Inter match to one more favourable to the Nerazzurri, though Inter has not been implicated and the Milan Public Prosecutor's office has confirmed Inter is not currently being investigated. That represents a key difference between this case and Barca’s role in the caso Negreira.

The Calciopoli parallels were immediately everywhere in the Italian press. For those that don’t remember the details, that 2006 scandal was built on intercepted phone calls showing Juventus and other clubs receiving favourable referee appointments.

It resulted in Juventus being stripped of two titles and relegated. About as severe a punishment as a big club has ever seen… and though English fans may wonder about Manchester City’s current situation, there is approximately zero chance of any punishment that strong.

Sports law specialists have been quick to note that while the current charges are actually more serious in legal terms — sporting fraud was not even brought against referees in Calciopoli — the evidential threshold for title revocation is extremely high, requiring proof of a direct causal link between manipulated appointments and specific competition outcomes.

This scandal lands on top of an Italian football governance structure already in the middle of an existential crisis — no World Cup again, no president, no coach, FIGC election on 22 June, and the federation's entire commercial ecosystem under pressure. The timing could hardly be worse. Any candidate for the FIGC presidency now has to campaign in the middle of an active criminal investigation into the integrity of refereeing in Serie A. The question of who cleans up the Rocchi mess will immediately become part of the election race.

We’ll be watching Thursday's Milan court appearance very closely.