Italian prosecutors request to drop sports fraud case against referee chief

July 15 : Milan prosecutors have requested that a sports fraud case against Gianluca Rocchi, the former referee designator for Italy's Serie A and Serie B, be dismissed, Italian news agency ANSA reported on Wednesday.

Rocchi, who was responsible for appointing referees in Italy's top two divisions, had been investigated on suspicion of complicity in sporting fraud over referee assignments for four matches, including Torino's Serie A game against Inter Milan in the recently concluded season.

He suspended himself from the role in April, saying it would "allow the legal proceedings to run their course properly, from which I am sure I will come out unscathed".

According to ANSA, prosecutors concluded after a two-year inquiry that there was no evidence of match-fixing, saying they did not "identify a structured system aimed at interfering with appointments".

However, they have forwarded the case documents to the sports justice authorities and the Italian Olympic Committee's General Prosecutor's Office to assess whether any disciplinary breaches may have occurred.