The investigations into the change at the top of the Italian Referees Association have been closed with Orsato and Braschi replacing Ciampi and Pizzi. Now the association’s no.1 has 15 days to justify his defense
Once again we are talking about referees and not in a positive way. The news that arrived yesterday had been in the air for days, but it still has a certain effect: the federal prosecutor’s office has closed the investigation into the president of the Hague, Antonio Zappi, who is therefore ever closer to referral. The number one match director, elected by almost a thousand electors just under a year ago with 73% of the vote, had ended up at the center of an investigation launched after the summer following a report from an associate, who reported pressure exerted by the president and the National Committee on some technical bodies of Serie C and Serie D, where Maurizio Ciampi and Alberto Pizzi were replaced by Daniele Orsato and Stefano Braschi, to urge their resignation.
The investigation
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The investigation was carried out by prosecutor Chinè with the utmost attention, also given an alleged step backwards by the signatory who even filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office claiming that he had never signed any complaint. The FIGC Prosecutor’s Office nevertheless decided to move forward, reaching a conclusion to the investigation which – given the particular path – implies more than in other cases the clear intention of leading to a referral. Zappi will therefore have 15 days to defend himself, by being heard by Chinè or by presenting a defense statement. The strategy will be chosen today when he meets his lawyer, but for the moment he doesn’t want to talk.
TENSIONS
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It is difficult to predict the next moves. Certainly relations between the FIGC and AIA are increasingly tense. The Arbitration Association has always motivated the decision of the rotation, which took place five months ago, with the need for an update of the technical structure, deemed necessary in light of the results of the last seasons and at the center of Zappi’s own programme. But from a political point of view there are those who perceive this probable referral as a sort of retaliation for the defense of the autonomy of The Hague, also in light of the Association’s stance against the project to establish an elite refereeing class managed by the FIGC, Lega Serie A and Lega Serie B. Zappi appears ready to do battle, but the 16 pages closing the investigations on Chinè’s table appear to be very harsh. In short, in his interrogations the prosecutor must have had confirmation of some alleged violation, given that there was no shortage of reasons to dismiss it. If we have moved forward it means that there is something unclear.
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