Gianluca Rocchi

Gianluca Rocchi
Rocchi in 2017
Full name Gianluca Rocchi
Born (1973-08-25) 25 August 1973 (age 51)
Florence, Italy
Domestic
Years League Role
2000–2003 Serie C Referee
2003–2010 Serie B Referee
2004–2020 Serie A Referee
International
Years League Role
2008–2020 FIFA listed Referee
2010–2020 UEFA Elite Referee

Gianluca Rocchi (Italian: [dʒanˈluːka ˈrɔkki]; 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 seasons starting from 2000. He was later promoted to the higher series, making his debut in U.S. Lecce-Reggina Calcio (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 Netherlands and Greece national under-19 football team. He was later called-up for European club cup matches (first for the UEFA Cup during the 2008–09 season, then for the Champions League during the 2010–11 season).[1]

He refereed three international matches during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying, and later was called-up as referee for the Men's football tournament at 2012 Summer Olympics in London.[2]

On 18 August 2013, Rocchi refereed the Supercoppa Italiana Final between Juventus and Lazio.[3]

On 6 October 2014, he was suspended for one month after a Serie A encounter between Juventus and Roma for poor officiating.[4] The match would later become known as the "Rocchi Horror Picture Show".[5]

On 21 May 2016, Rocchi refereed the 2016 Coppa Italia Final between Milan and Juventus.[6]

In April 2017, FIFA announced that Rocchi had been chosen as one of the referees for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.[7]

In July 2017, UEFA announced that Rocchi had been chosen to referee the UEFA Super Cup Final between Real Madrid and Manchester United.[8]

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.[9]

On 13 May 2019, UEFA announced that Rocchi had been chosen to referee the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final between Chelsea and Arsenal.[10]

On 5 November 2019, Rocchi refereed the 2019–20 UEFA Champions League group stage match between Ajax and Chelsea.[11] Ending in a 4–4 draw at Stamford Bridge, the match was controversial, due to the fact that Rocchi issued two red cards and a direct penalty, sending off both Ajax centre-backs Daley Blind and Joël Veltman, while issuing a penalty for Chelsea all in the same call.[12] His officiating later came under criticism in the press[13][14] and at UEFA. 442oons, a successful YouTube channel that makes animated parodies of football matches, scored a hit with their viral video 'Sent Off Two Men', a play on The Weather Girls successful single 'It's Raining Men'.[15] Rocchi later reacted seemingly upset over the reactions to his officiating.[16]

Rocchi retired from refereeing at the age of 46, with his last match officiated being between Juventus and Roma on 1 August 2020.[17] In 2021, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.[18]

Honours

References

  1. ^ "Gianluca Rocchi will referee Manchester City-Real Madrid". Real Madrid. 19 November 2012. Archived from the original on 1 February 2013.
  2. ^ "Gianluca Rocchi". www.worldfootball.net. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Juventus 4–0 Lazio". Soccerway. 18 August 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Juventus's win over Roma overshadowed by the referee – again". The Guardian. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  5. ^ "Rocchi Horror Picture Show" (in Italian). Gazzetta. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Milan 0–1 Juventus" (in Italian). www.legaseriea.it. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  7. ^ "La Fifa sceglie Rocchi" (in Italian). www.raisport.rai.it. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  8. ^ "Rocchi to referee 2017 UEFA Super Cup". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  9. ^ "List of Match Officials at 2018 FIFA World Cup" (PDF). fifa.com. 29 March 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  10. ^ "Referee team appointed for UEFA Europa League final in Baku". UEFA.com. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  11. ^ "Chelsea vs. Ajax 4-4". soccerway. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  12. ^ "Chelsea-Ajax Yields Eight Goals, Two Reds and One Thrilling Tie". NYTimes. 5 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Na 5 november 22.27 uur werd het nooit meer hetzelfde voor Ajax" (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagblad. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  14. ^ "Tijdens Chelsea Ajax was ook de VAR in de war" (in Dutch). Het Parool. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  15. ^ "Gianluca Rocchi ft. Erik ten Hag - Sent Off 2 Men!" (in Dutch). RTL Nieuws. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  16. ^ "Rocchi reageert op kritiek na Chelsea-Ajax: 'Ik werd boos toen ik dat las'" (in Dutch). Voetbal International. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  17. ^ "Rocchi, Juve-Roma ultima in Serie A: l'addio del secondo arbitro più presente di sempre" (in Italian). Sky Sport. 2 August 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  18. ^ a b "Hall of Fame: Nesta, Rummenigge, Conte, Rocchi, Cabrini and Bonansea among those inducted". Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 3 February 2022.
  19. ^ Sport, Sky (3 December 2018). "Gran Galà del calcio AIC 2018: Icardi il miglior giocatore 2017-2018. Tutti i premi" (in Italian). sport.sky.it. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  20. ^ "Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners". Football Italia. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
Sporting positions
Preceded by UEFA Super Cup Final Referee
2017 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UEFA Europa League Final Referee
2019 		Succeeded by


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