There is no peace for the Italian whistlers. The reform towards professionalism may fail, waiting to see if the national team will go to the World Cup, and there are those who dream of a less present VAR even if the next designator…
What is entering its last and decisive phase is one of the most tormented refereeing seasons in history. A few too many errors but also, or rather above all, a debate around the whistles which as the months went by turned into trench warfare. The latest development is that we will almost certainly go backwards: no reform towards professionalism, the one desired by the FIGC president Gabriele Gravina, no English-style Pgmol by removing the referee heads from the control of the Hague and less transparency compared to today.
It’s not just the future of the ‘Open Var’ broadcast that is at the center of the discussion. It will most likely close next year although it is best not to take anything for granted, given that in the FIGC there are those who believe the process of openness to communication and transparency is not reversible. The truth is that the weekly appointment of the designator Rocchi or one of his delegates to show and listen to the thorniest cases of the weekend, admitting the mistakes but also claiming the right choices, turned out to be a boomerang.
Referees don’t like to be pilloried when they make mistakes and, rightly, point out that this happens only for them and for no other part of professional football. The surrounding ecosystem, however, took ‘Open Var’ as an à la carte menu useful not to appreciate and understand the desire for clarity, but to instrumentally enrich its own campaign of constant search for an alibi in the event of defeat. A result that should make us reflect and this will happen in the coming months.
FIGC beyond the World Cup hurdle: what will happen if…?
The overall issue, however, is broader and more delicate and concerns the very stability of the Football Federation. The outcome of the World Cup playoff against Northern Ireland and, hopefully, Wales or Bosnia is not a detail but a crucial step. What would happen in the event of a third consecutive failure to participate in the World Cup? Gravina would he stay, thanks to the Bulgarian consensus of the last election, or would he take a step back? And would that consensus still be so broad in the face of a failure with unimaginable repercussions?
It follows that this is not the time to make epochal choices because we lack strength and will. Therefore, the reform of the arbitration sector can wait and at most it will turn into one reformica while the rest will be seen and the wishes of the major clubs and those who support football through television contracts will weigh heavily. On the designator issue, however, the path is still long and complex.
Who after Rocchi (if he really leaves)?
Gianluca Rocchi he is closing his fifth year at the helm of CAN and, despite the controversies and brawls in sports bars, his work is not judged negatively by those who will have to indicate the future. Certainly the burden of last season was enormous for him too and it is not certain that he will want to get back into contention, as his contract as a referee expires on 30 June 2026. Daniele Orsatoconsidered the natural candidate, is still the man at the center (even if he is not called to answer because he is not an active part) of the affair that led to the conviction of the president of the Hague Antonio Zappi.
The name of emerges in the corridor rumors Roberto Rosetticurrent head of referees at UEFA. Excellent profile with the problem of having a non-trivial cost to convince him to leave Nyon. Detail in the margin, but not too much: he is a proud supporter of the return to the past with “less VAR even at the cost of missing out on some penalties”. Everyone says they agree with him, until proven otherwise. This season’s numbers show that in the Champions League the frequency of VAR interventions (0.45 per match) is higher than that of the controversial Rocchi’s Serie A (0.44) and the same goes for the average penalty kick award.
And, above all, ours is a football where it will be difficult to accept the inability to evaluate via monitor the correctness of a second yellow card or the awarding of a corner kick; reforms wanted by Ifab for the next season (the second at the discretion of the organizers of the individual leagues) and which clearly show where VAR and modern football are going. Which is not in the direction imagined by Rosetti, at least in words.
