Gianluca Rocchi (CAN manager), took stock of the end of the season in a press conference from the Aula Magna of Coverciano: “The last time we saw each other I was a bit angry, but I was experiencing a period of the year in which I perceived the need of a strong shock for the boys and given the second round, it was needed. We had set ourselves goals since we started 3 years ago. The Serie B playoffs and playouts were wonderful because we had zero VAR interventions in 10 games. Zero. And without even using the top names… Despite everything we were forced to use fewer young players, the relegation fight at the end was very messy, excuse the term but life was at stake. We try to target those kids who give very strong answers. The staff is too large, we need to reduce the number of referees, 39 is objectively a lot. We believe that the number is 30-32, with those we can make a high-level Serie A. Having many of them is an advantage because with these numbers we can afford the path of research and testing of new talents. If we were few, we would struggle more. Instead we have brought in many young people: today some seem experienced, but three years ago they had just arrived. The results are also given to us by the choice from outside the internationals: we had 179 designations from FIFA and UEFA and I can guarantee you that Rosetti and Collina didn’t give us anything. We also made 87 designations for other leagues, and we rejected the other half. We have sent referees to Arabia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Croatia, United Arab Emirates, Greece and Türkiye. Where we are in high demand is above all the VAR: we were positively surprised. We have two referees at the European Championship and it’s not a given, I don’t know how old it was… And not only that, we have Mariani as the only UEFA representative at the Copa América. And let’s always remember that there is Massa in the 2026 World Cup, there too we will be among the few to have two. At the Olympics we will be represented by Valeri and Di Monte. We couldn’t ask for more from our kids and the thing that makes me proud is that there are many of them, we’re not talking about a single phenomenon. We have young people growing up, Colombo and Sozza did the Milan Derby, as did the playoff finals: we want to expand the group of quality referees. And then we want to increase the referee VAR group from 13 today to 20-22, while the use of assistants is limited because there is a strict indication that only a former referee can play the role and not a former assistant: there is this block. The average quality of the VAR referee groups is above average and as a category they are in high demand, sometimes more than the referees themselves.”
A reflection on the topic of racism.
“It was one of the things to be careful about, we had a case, that of Maignan in Udine in which Maresca was very good. And yes, also Acerbi with Juan Jesus but I’m talking about relationships between the public and the players. This means that the public first of all behaved better and that, if stimulated, people give answers on the topic. We would like to have zero cases, not one, but we can all give ourselves a round of applause as a football system.”
So a consideration on Open VAR.
“For me it was very, very tiring work, I say this honestly. We had to reinvent a job that isn’t ours: I guarantee you that sitting in front of a TV isn’t exactly easy. It had a great advantage, it forced us to work even harder on communication. An effort that we asked for and to which we had excellent responses: the audio communications are clean and as they are, we haven’t cut half of them. As an experience it was very beautiful and allowed the referees to understand how we work, outside of our world. The goal is to have a championship that is as fair as possible. Of the five macro-objectives we have set ourselves, one has not been achieved and we are far away, namely reduction and redistribution of the workforce. The others are either reached or in the process of being reached.”
Rocchi then examines some numbers: “We whistled a little more, but I told the boys that they did very well because in the last few days there has been a drastic reduction in playing time. And even on penalties we didn’t have huge problems, if we exclude the Juventus-Bologna episode (penalty on Ndoye not called, ed.). In terms of actual time, we had a drop in the middle of the championship: when we played for more time, the days were refereed better on average. The championship average was 55 minutes and 13 seconds, we went up almost 4 minutes compared to pre-Qatar when we raised the problem. And think that at the beginning of the season I was very happy because we were on 57. The average of recoveries is just under 8 minutes. But I’ll give you an example: Cagliari-Fiorentina had 16 minutes of added time but only 47 of actual time. High recovery has nothing to do with high actual playing time. We are below the European threshold both for penalties and fouls, but also for yellow cards and expulsions. The VAR interventions were fewer than last year but we can do better, there were days with 9 interventions… It’s not a good message. My goal is to send guys onto the pitch who referee without using VAR or in any case more parsimoniously. As a media we have grown and this does not make me happy. It’s up to us to set the bar straight again. They have to decide on the pitch, the VAR parachute is not for the referees, but for the teams and the fans. The referee must think about not making mistakes, otherwise he is not a referee. We have repaired 92% of the errors, but I wonder how you managed to put up with so many errors… I’m thinking of Inter-Verona (foul by Bastoni on Henry in the move to score the winning goal for the Nerazzurri), for example: it’s an important episode for a missed VAR intervention but perhaps 15 years ago it would have been a single episode on the pitch, without the specific weight that there is today. We are not always happy with confirmations after reviews from the field, it would mean that the VAR was missing something in its decision-making process.”
Any names of young referees who have stood out?
“I won’t name names but I repeat, we work as a group and not on individuals. If you only go on a referee, you risk doing harm. You have to earn the nomination game by game: if this concept doesn’t pass, we create monsters.”
Have you overcome the tension phase with some people in the field?
“I apologize if I was harsh but it was needed, it was a moment in which the tension grew every week. From there the numbers dropped, I believe that the harder sports justice is, the less you make mistakes. I reiterate the idea of not being able to ask the coaches questions about the referees after 6 hours, if you catch him coldly he has a different vision.”
Is there a risk of living with chopped up matches?
“But this cannot move us. VAR is an amazing tool if used well… Another aspect that makes refereeing difficult is that all matches are extremely competitive. When I started refereeing in Serie A, big versus small was almost a given, but today that’s not the case: we have double the number of away victories compared to twenty years ago. The use of VAR is because such close results lead us to look at the hair’s breadth, but that is not our objective.”
Do you tend to apply the rules too much?
“Especially with young people we work to understand the play and not just apply the rules. Those who have best understood our directives are playing certain matches… The referees are football referees.”
In January you highlighted 8 macro-errors. How many are added today?
“In the second round I put 4 and you could feel the difference, the change of pace, also for some choices to tighten the belt on the designations”.
How do you rate your boys’ season?
“Give the votes too, whoever got it was because they deserved it”.
Is it a historical falsehood to say that there is an Italian and a European metro?
“Yes. Since we have been here we have decided to adopt the same working methodology with respect to international matches. Also because Italian referees then go abroad to referee. I want to get Italian teams used to playing with a certain standard. And don’t write that it’s thanks to the referees, but we have 5 finalists in European cups in the last two years. The Champions League is the easiest category to referee, but remember that the best referee is the one who adapts to the match.”
Have you understood and explained the technical gap regarding the offside of Sassuolo-Milan? Chukwueze’s goal.
“Offside is offside, the virtualization of the cameras is decided by the directors, not by us. Images have arrived with an opposite vision. I refer back to Atalanta-Fiorentina in the Italian Cup: there wasn’t the technical time on television to show the image again and it went on the next day. I got angry. But I tell you, at least let’s believe in the car. On that Sassuolo-Milan goal, in my opinion, the proposition was wrong, but the offside was there because the machine gave it to us.”
How to form relationships between VAR and referees?
“Nowadays many VARs are professionals and don’t care about the referee. Sometimes, however, VAR does not intervene because there is a range within which the referee decides. When you do something you make a mistake, you need to understand as soon as possible where the mistake was made.”
Ready for a step further beyond Open VAR?
“As I was saying for coaches, talking in the heat of the moment is always complex. Re-proposing day after day for the future is not a problem.”
Has any political perception influenced your work?
“There was turbulence, also because referees are human beings and as such are affected by tensions. With difficulty, but we got through it: the technical part prevailed over the political one. As a refereeing world, however, the more united we are, the less attackable we are.”
Any aspects that you liked less than yours?
“I would like more personality from the referees, a direct relationship in which they are not subject to protests from referees or coaches. Today it is measured in overcoming an accident. We try to work on it there. You have to be strict, everyone wants a referee who gives a strong response. The episodes that brought us the most problems were those about fouls in actions that led to goals. I want to make the group grow in awareness of their means.”
How to reduce the workforce?
“It is not a path that can be done alone and in just one year, we need support and support from the Federation, we don’t send anyone out into the middle of the road from morning to night. COVID recharged our staff, we needed referees enormously, today we have to dilute them.”
Would you do Open VAR again?
“Yes, it allows us to spread what we do and not have secrets. The work of this journey must be shared with the kids: think about what it was like for them to make their conversations public after a few hours. I had a group of total availability and I thank them
There is a risk of reducing the use of VAR too much to field analyses. In England they want to remove it.
“The football philosophy there is different from ours, the referee’s error has always been seen as an accident. In Italy the week shifts. If I intervene on every mistake, I take away the philosophy of football, which should always be fluid. And we also work on the downtime of revisions.”
How to operate on actual time? Udinese-Empoli and Cagliari-Fiorentina generated controversy.
“The matches mentioned concern episodes in the final minutes, in injury time, which is always a mess. We investigated to understand why there was such a low playing time and we saw for example that the time to restart the game also had something to do with it, a lot was lost there. And I repeat, we had matches lasting 42 minutes of effective time, refereed by two top players. For me it’s more a question of the philosophy of the game than it concerns the referees.”
Is on-call VAR possible?
“There is an ongoing FIFA experiment with youth leagues. The tool is so innovative that in the future I say, why not, there may be the possibility. But the problem is always understanding how to use it…”
