Gianluca Rocchi

Gianluca Rocchi (Italian: [dʒanˈluːka ˈrɔkki]; born 25 August 1973) is an Italian former association football referee.

Gianluca Rocchi
Gianluca Rocchi in 2017
Full name Gianluca Rocchi
Born (1973-08-25) 25 August 1973
Florence, Italy
Domestic
Years League Role
2003–2010 Serie B Referee
2004–2020 Serie A Referee
International
Years League Role
2008–2020 FIFA listed Referee
2010–2020 UEFA Elite 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 1-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] The 442oons, a successful YouTube channel of animated parodies scored a hit with their viral 'Sent Off two men'; a play on the 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]

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. "La Fifa sceglie Rocchi". 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. "Gran Galà del calcio AIC 2018: Icardi il miglior giocatore 2017-2018. Tutti i premi" (in Italian). sport.sky.it. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  19. "Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners". Football Italia. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Milorad Mažić		 UEFA Super Cup Final Referee
2017		 Succeeded by
Szymon Marciniak
Preceded by
Björn Kuipers		 UEFA Europa League Final Referee
2019		 Succeeded by
Danny Makkelie
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.