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ROME, ITALY – MAY 29: FC Internazionale Milano President Massimo Moratti and Javier Zanetti celebrates after victory in the Tim Cup final during the Tim Cup final between FC Internazionale Milano and US Citta di Palermo at Olimpico Stadium on May 29, 2011 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Claudio Villa/Getty Images)
Former President Massimo Moratti insists the current investigation into referees for sporting fraud are ‘ridiculous compared to Calciopoli,’ and that ‘Inter have never been helped’ by officials.
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Refereeing designator Gianluca Rocchi was placed under formal investigation for sporting fraud, a considerably harsher allegation than ones ever made in the 2006 Calciopoli scandal.
Among the accusations is that Rocchi colluded with unknown figures at San Siro in April 2025 to avoid assigning Daniele Doveri to Inter games, instead going for officials who the club considered preferable.
Another four members of the refereeing world are also under investigation, but Moratti was President of Inter in 2006 and insists the club is clean.
Moratti trusts Inter never helped by officials
“I didn’t follow the matter too closely, but it seems more like a small battle between referees than anything to do with clubs. I don’t see comparisons with Calciopoli,” Moratti told Napoli Network.
“I had fear and respect of the referees then, because they could decide the fate of my team, especially considering we had Juventus on the other side. I still imagined this was a difficult profession, and consequently I didn’t speak to them.
“I read interviews with De Santis and Luciano Moggi, who were found guilty in Calciopoli, and it’s incredible that people are asking for their opinion on the matter.
“What is happening now is ridiculous compared to that.”
Several clubs were caught up in the Calciopoli scandal for communication and pressure on the refereeing designators to assign certain officials or avoid others, but at no point was sporting fraud one of the charges.
A large part of it was intercepted phone calls with the refereeing chiefs, but some with then-Inter director Giacinto Facchetti were only discovered several years later, after the statute of limitations had passed.
Moratti, who saw Inter handed the 2005-06 Scudetto because all the clubs ahead of them in the table had been docked points in the scandal, maintains their absolute innocence both then and now.
“Seeing the games, I don’t see anything unbalanced. Inter never had help, not when they won and not when they lost. Refereeing errors can happen, and often they are serious errors, but these things have always happened.”
