Rosario D’Onofrio was the body’s chief prosecutor until he and dozens of others were arrested by Italy’s financial police in a major operation on Saturday.

He is alleged to have helped to smuggle cannabis from Spain to Italy, earning the nickname “Rambo” for his use of a military uniform as camouflage.

In a further embarrassment for the referees’ body, it emerged that Mr D’Onofrio was under house arrest following a drugs-related conviction at the time of his promotion in 2020.

The National Association of Referees said it had only learned about his previous convictions through the media and was “a victim and misled with a very serious and malicious omission”, SportMediaset.it reports.