The summer of 2023 was notable in Como and we are not talking here about the beauty of the landscapes near the lakes which attract millions of tourists each year. The city’s football club had given a big boost to its sporting project, even attracting several international spotlights after having made big moves in the summer transfer window with the arrival in particular of Cesc Fàbregas as a player (now converted into an assistant coach after a few stints as interim coach and coach of the Primavera) and Thierry Henry as a minority shareholder. The Indonesian group Djarum, owner of the club, continues to pull out all the stops. President Dennis Wise, a former England international who played for Chelsea, also promised a new historical page for the Lariani. However, the following months were not easy. Last season, Como held on in Serie B for a while before making a great comeback.
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This season, the team had its ups and downs until the change of coach and the arrival of Welsh coach, Osian Roberts, who replaced Moreno Longo. The record of the man who also serves as development director is 9 victories in 15 championship matches. Currently ranked in 2nd position in Serie B with six days remaining, Como can believe in its golden objectives, namely because the rise to the elite seems almost locked. As a reminder, at the end of the season, the two clubs at the top of the table are directly promoted to Serie A, while the next six compete for the remaining place in the form of play-offs. And the Como players have a slight lead with two small points more than Cremonese, positioned in 3rd place in the ranking. With four victories in the last five meetings, Como is getting closer to its dream: returning to Serie A after more than 20 years of absence. The last campaign in the Italian first division dates back to the 2002/2003 season. This sports project is due to perfect sports management in recent months. If the beginnings of the new era started in 2019 had experienced some complications, today nothing seems to disturb the Biancoblù ship which continues its epic journey on the Lakes of Como.
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The dream of two billionaire brothers
In 2019, only two years after its demotion to Serie D due to bankruptcy, the recently refounded Como club was bought by the Indonesian company Djarum Group led by brothers Michael Hartono and Robert Budi Hartono: “I can say that when we came here, five years ago now, the city was a lot less blue than it is today. That’s why it’s very nice to see people going to the stadium with the Como jersey or to see references to the team around the city. We are happy about it… I am a businessman and I value the performance of the company more than things on the ground”, explained Mirwan Suwarso, the Indonesian general manager responsible for managing the Como Football Project. According to the latest Forbes ranking, Como is officially – and by far – the Italian club with the richest owners thanks to Robert Budi Hartono (83 years old) whose personal wealth stands at 24.5 billion euros and Michael Bambang Hartono (84 years old), with a net worth of 23.4 billion euros.
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With an estimated value of 47.9 billion euros, Como can dream very big over the coming years, especially since the Hartono siblings are not skimping on investments and intend to continue the development of the team based in Lombardy. Far-sighted investors in Central Asia Bank, still among Indonesia’s largest producers of clove-flavored cigarettes, the Hartono brothers are also the main shareholders of Global Digital Niaga, owner of the e-commerce giant Bligli: “I’m not talking about football, from a technical point of view. And also, I decided to… not get emotional. Because emotion is more tiring and may not make you read things clearly. I try to stay away from emotions, even if it’s not easy, because this adventure is very demanding. However, to answer the question, I would say that our philosophy is to plan not if the team will go to Serie A, but rather when we will go there.continued Mirwan Suwarso with our Italian colleagues from the newspaper The province. With quality recruitment based around players like Simone Verdi, Patrick Cutrone, Daniele Baselli, Jean-Pierre Nsame, Gabriel Strefezza and Lucas Da Cunha, the Como club knows how to surround itself with experienced international players.
A new stadium and a new training center?
The big issue for the Indonesian property is to build this famous new stadium, which has been long awaited for several years. The club and the city have redeveloped the current team grounds – brought up to standard with an expansion to 6,500 seats but in the event of a rise in Serie A and broad development of the sporting project, we will have to dream much bigger. The Comunale Giuseppe Sinigaglia stadium is a historic place in the city through its particular architecture and its busy position, which complicates the desires of the Municipality. Mayor Alessandro Rapinese continues to speak with sports management to make the best possible decision regarding the future stadium: “The project developed by the specialized companies to which we entrusted the study has arrived on the table of our owners. The formal but fundamental passage of signatures is missing. After that, once the project is approved by the Hartono family, we will be ready to present it to Mayor Rapinese. I believe that by the end of the month we could be ready to present ourselves at the Municipality offices. From the start of the work, in my opinion, we could do it in a year of work with delays linked to permits., promised Mirwan Suwarso. There are still a few levers to activate to get everyone to agree, but one thing is certain: the city is fully aware of the sporting, social and economic engine that the football club is starting to become. A locomotive that could bring big returns to the Town Hall.
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If the stadium is slow to be made official, the Lombard club can boast of having one of the best training centers in the country and probably the most modern in Serie B: “The sports project developed at 40%, the commercial project at 20%. Now the ideas phase is over: let’s move on to their implementation. When we arrived, the merchandising revenue was around 100,000 euros, a year ago we reached 1.3 million euros, now we are close to 4 million. Something has been done in this area. Our initial plan would have seen the first team and Academy training side by side. Unfortunately, the project to develop the spaces in the center had to be stopped. Mozzate will therefore be a jewel, which we will improve even further, only for the first team, while we will look for other grounds for a center dedicated to youth teams”, analyzed Suwarzo. The structure covers a total area of approximately 35,000 square meters and is currently composed of two football fields, an athletics track, a gymnasium, changing rooms, a bar/restaurant and other rooms which will be used as offices. Mozzate is also the club’s headquarters as well as the training center for Como’s first team and youth sector. While Italian football is going through a major crisis with serious economic problems and dilapidated infrastructure, the Como club seems to be the spark of hope for rebirth…
Pub. on 12/04/2024 22:01
2024-04-12 20:01:11
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