From near-bankruptcy to the Champions League: Como 1907 ahead of RB Leipzig clash
Italian club Como 1907, once close to bankruptcy and valued at under €1 million in 2019, is set to play its first-ever UEFA Champions League match against RB Leipzig on Thursday night. According to Goal.com, the club's value has surged in recent years, with president Mirwan Suwarso suggesting it could eventually surpass €1 billion.
From near-collapse to Europe's elite
Como 1907, a small-town club on the shores of Italy's picturesque Lake Como, will host German side RB Leipzig on Thursday for its first-ever match in the UEFA Champions League. According to Goal.com, the game takes place at the club's home ground, Sinigaglia — an almost 100-year-old, roughly 13,000-seat stadium sitting right on the lakeshore.
Underlining the significance of the occasion, president Mirwan Suwarso and other club executives reportedly gave up their own seats so more than 40 of the club's oldest supporters could attend the match instead.
From under €1 million to a possible €1 billion
Como's rise has been remarkably fast. The Indonesian conglomerate Djarum Group — led by brothers Budi and Bambang Hartono, two of the wealthiest people in the world — acquired the club in 2019, when it was worth less than €1 million. Goal.com reports that Suwarso now believes the club's valuation could eventually exceed €1 billion.
The project reportedly began with an idea to make a football documentary in Italy, in a similar vein to what later became the Wrexham documentary. While scouting locations near Milan, Suwarso said he came across Como by what he called a "happy coincidence" — at a time when the club had just been promoted to Serie C1 and its facilities were in poor shape.
Two bankruptcies, then a path to Serie A
To run the club, Suwarso brought in former England and Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise, who later became CEO and then president. Wise told The Coaches' Voice that when he joined, Como had no training ground of its own, crowds were around just 800, and the club had gone bankrupt twice before.
Como returned to Serie B in 2021 for the first time since its second bankruptcy four years earlier. In the summer of 2022, World Cup winner Cesc Fabregas joined the club as both a player and a shareholder, later taking charge of the first team — though for a time he was formally listed only as an assistant coach. In 2024, Como earned promotion to Serie A for the first time in more than two decades.
Context
The source material does not include current league standings or a match result for either club — it focuses instead on Como's club history leading up to this Champions League debut.
