The head of Italy's football referees association AIA has stepped down after the body's chief prosecutor was arrested for his alleged involvement in an international drug trafficking ring.

"Alfredo Trentalange has offered his resignation from the role of president of the Italian referees association," AIA said in a short statement on Sunday.

Trentalange was elected president in February last year and had said that he would not step down from his position when in November Rosario D'Onofrio was among 42 people to be arrested for their roles in a drugs operation in Milan.

The AIA had said after D'Onofrio's arrest that he hid from them he had been under house arrest for previous drugs offences in 2020 when he applied to be promoted to prosecutor, a role he had covered since February 2021.

That reportedly infuriated head of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) Gabriele Gravina, who on Friday made it clear to Trentalange that AIA would be put under administration if he didn't leave his post.

That forced Trentalange's hand and led to his resignation despite his insistence that he and AIA were victims of D'Onofrio's deceit.

The FIGC said Monday that it would hold a meeting in the afternoon in which the situation at AIA would be discussed, adding no further details.

td/pi

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