Gianluca Rocchi (; born 25 August 1973) is an Italian former football referee.

Career

Rocchi became a referee in 1990 and officiated in 38 matches in three

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

seasons starting from 2000. He was later promoted to the higher series, making his debut in

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

Reggina Calcio Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

(16 May 2004). In 2010, when the National Referee Committee for Serie A and Serie B split, he was assigned to Serie A's Committee. He made his international debut on 26 May 2008, in a friendly match between

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and

Greece national under-19 football team The Greece national under-19 football team is the national football team of Greece and is controlled by the Hellenic Football Federation. In July 2007 the Under-20/19 Football Team finished second in the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Champ ...

. He was later called-up for European club cup matches (first for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

during the 2008–09 season, then for the Champions League during the 2010–11 season). He refereed three international matches during the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was hel ...

, and later was called-up as referee for the Men's football tournament at 2012 Summer Olympics in London. On 18 August 2013, Rocchi refereed the Supercoppa Italiana Final between Juventus and

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. On 6 October 2014, he was suspended for one month after a

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

encounter between Juventus and Roma for poor officiating. The match would later become known as the "Rocchi Horror Picture Show". On 21 May 2016, Rocchi refereed the 2016 Coppa Italia Final between

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and Juventus. In April 2017, FIFA announced that Rocchi had been chosen as one of the referees for the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 201 ...

in Russia. In July 2017,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

announced that Rocchi had been chosen to referee the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

Final between Real Madrid and Manchester United. On 29 March 2018, FIFA announced that Rocchi would officiate some matches at the 2018 FIFA World Cup along with Elenito Di Liberatore and Mauro Tonolini as assistant referees. On 13 May 2019, UEFA announced that Rocchi had been chosen to referee the

2019 UEFA Europa League Final The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

between

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and Arsenal. On 5 November 2019, Rocchi refereed the

2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage The 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage began on 17 September 2019 and ended on 11 December 2019. A total of 32 teams competed in the group stage to decide the 16 places in the knockout phase of the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League. Draw The ...

match between

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and Chelsea. Ending in a 4–4 draw at Stamford Bridge, the match was

controversial Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

, due to the fact that Rocchi issued two red cards and a direct

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

, sending off both Ajax centre-backs

Daley Blind Daley Blind (; born 9 March 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, left-back or centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. He is the son of former Ajax defender and fo ...

and Joël Veltman, while issuing a penalty for

all in the same call. His officiating later came under criticism in the press. 442oons, a successful

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channel that makes

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

parodies A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

of football matches, scored a hit with their viral video 'Sent Off Two Men', a play on

The Weather Girls The Weather Girls are an American female duo whose best-known line-up comprised Martha Wash and Izora Armstead. Formed in 1976 in San Francisco, California, The Weather Girls members began their musical career as Two Tons O' Fun, the female back ...

successful single '

It's Raining Men "It's Raining Men" is a song by the American musical duo the Weather Girls from their third studio album, ''Success'' (1983). It was released as the album's lead single on September 10, 1982, through Columbia Records and CBS Records Internatio ...

'. Rocchi later reacted seemingly upset over the reactions to his officiating. Rocchi retired from refereeing at the age of 46, with his last match officiated being between Juventus and Roma on 1 August 2020. In 2021, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Honours

Serie A Referee of the Year The AIC Serie A Referee of the Year ( it, Migliore arbitro AIC) is a yearly award organized by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) given to the Referee (association football), referee who has been considered to have performed the best over ...

: 2018, 2019 * Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2021

References

External links

Gianluca Rocchi Official 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Profile
1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Florence Italian football referees UEFA Champions League referees Olympic football referees Football referees at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2018 FIFA World Cup referees {{Italy-footy-bio-stub