Owning Italy’s Most Beautiful Stadium, From Serie D to the Champions League: This European Newcomer Is No Ordinary Club

Tonight, a small stadium with a capacity of 12,000 will light up for the first time for European club football’s highest stage.

The Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium sits on the shore of Lake Como.

Como, a northern Italian city known for silk and luxury resorts, will see its football club Como 1907 host RB Leipzig. It is Como’s first Champions League match, and the man on the touchline was playing in Serie A for Monaco five years ago, was only a player and minority shareholder of the club four years ago, and first coached the U19 team three years ago.

His name is Cesc Fabregas.

From being ignored in Serie D to the Champions League spotlight, Como took seven years. The club went through bankruptcy, restructuring, an Indonesian takeover and four promotions. Fabregas is the most unusual part of this story: someone who saw football’s highest level choosing to prove himself again from the bottom.

[A Club’s Two Deaths]

Going back 20 years, Como’s story offered almost no hope.

Founded on May 25, 1907, the century-old club was not without history. It first reached Serie A in 1949 and had its strongest period in the early 1980s, spending five consecutive seasons in the top flight. But financial problems became a chronic illness in the new century.

In 2004, Como declared bankruptcy for the first time and was reformed as Calcio Como the next year, returning to Serie D, the bottom of the professional pyramid. After a brief recovery, financial trouble returned in 2016 and the club collapsed again. In 2017, a new club named Como 1907 rose from the ruins and returned to Serie D.

By then, Como’s name in Italian football was almost synonymous with being destined to disappear.

The Indonesian Hartono brothers were the foundation of Como’s rise.

The turning point came in 2019, when the Hartono brothers acquired Como through their Djarum Group. Money finally began flowing steadily into the club.

With funding came everything that followed. Como won Serie D in 2019, Serie C in 2021, and returned to Serie A in 2024 as Serie B runners-up after 21 years.

Three promotions in four years. But Fabregas had not arrived yet.

[Why Did Someone Who Had Seen Everything Choose Como?]

In the summer of 2022, 35-year-old Fabregas joined Como, who were then in Serie B.

His career represented what it meant to have seen the world: he debuted for Arsenal’s first team at 16, made over 300 appearances, captained the club from November 2008 to May 2011, then played for Barcelona, Chelsea and Monaco, winning the Premier League, La Liga, Europa League and the 2010 World Cup, while making over 100 Champions League appearances.

Fabregas had an extraordinary career record.

Why would someone with one of Europe’s greatest midfield resumes join a small second-tier Italian club late in his career?

The answer lies in his role as player and shareholder. Fabregas did not join Como to retire quietly; he arrived with investment and future plans. He retired there, began learning club operations and saw that Como was not an ordinary Serie B side, but a club backed by capital willing to invest and wait.

In summer 2023, Fabregas officially retired. He stayed and took charge of Como’s U19 team. Someone who had played under Wenger, Guardiola and Mourinho chose the slowest way to understand football again.

[From Youth Coaching to the First Team, One Crisis Away]

The opportunity arrived faster than anyone expected.

In November 2023, Como’s first-team coach left and the club handed the interim role to the recently retired former player. Fabregas led four matches, winning three and drawing one, moving the team from sixth to third in Serie B.

In July 2024, after obtaining his coaching license, Fabregas became permanent manager and signed a four-year contract.

In the 2024-25 season, newly promoted Como finished 10th in Serie A and avoided relegation comfortably, while Fabregas was named Serie A Coach of the Month for April and May.

Como were Serie B runners-up in 2023-24 and reached the Champions League this season.

[The Final Step of Four Promotions: From 10th to 4th]

The 2025-26 season became the greatest in Como’s history: 20 wins, 11 draws, seven losses, 71 points and fourth place in Serie A.

Como scored 65 goals, second-most in Serie A, conceded only 29, the fewest in the league, and ranked first for possession. A team that was in Serie B three years earlier pushed AC Milan and Juventus behind it with possession-based football and youth development.

In the final match, Como beat ten-man Cremonese 4-1 while AC Milan lost to Cagliari. Como seized the opportunity and earned its first-ever Champions League place.

From one perspective, it is a classic Cinderella story. From another, every page was built with real money.

[Fabregas’ Football: Possession and a 21-Year-Old Argentine]

Fabregas’ coaching style mirrors his playing career. He believes in possession, midfield control and the value of young players.

The tactical centerpiece is Argentine Nico Paz.

Paz joined Como from Real Madrid, making 40 appearances last season with 13 goals and eight assists. Fabregas built Como’s attacking system around his creativity. Greek striker Tasos Douvikas was the team’s top scorer with 17 goals.

Fabregas did not build Como as a relegation side, but as a Champions League team: data-based recruitment, young players and possession football.

[The Other Side of the Fairytale: Tobacco Capital and Annual Losses of 100 Million]

But viewing Como only as an inspirational fairytale misses its most interesting side.

Como’s rise is not only a football victory but also a capital victory. Djarum Group, whose main business is Indonesian tobacco, invested heavily in the Italian small-town club. Como’s squad value rose from €60 million in 2024 to €535 million.

Whether Como can become the next Leicester City remains unknown.

Since promotion to Serie A, Como have spent more than $100 million every summer. Annual losses in recent seasons exceeded €105 million, supported by continued owner funding.

In other words, Como’s miracle is the story of a wealthy owner willing to lose money long-term to lift an amateur-level club into the Champions League.

This does not erase Fabregas’ coaching ability—money can buy players, but not possession, 65 goals or trust in young talent.

When a club loses 100 million a year yet never lacks funding, is it a Cinderella comeback or another example of wealth reshaping football?

[The Champions League Is the Real Test]

Como’s Champions League debut tonight is a milestone, but only the beginning.

Fabregas said: “This club has grown too fast.” The words show both awareness and caution. Fourth place in Serie A and Champions League competition are two completely different worlds.

Como’s Champions League schedule includes Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Leipzig, AEK Athens, Barcelona, Real Betis, Feyenoord and Lens. Eight matches, almost all difficult battles.

But every step of Como’s journey was once considered impossible.

From two bankruptcies to four promotions, from Serie D obscurity to Serie A Coach of the Year, from a small stadium by Lake Como to the Champions League spotlight, Fabregas and Como have created a story beyond expectations.

How the next chapter will be written will not be found in predictions, but in tonight’s match and every 90 minutes of the next eight games.