How Como 1907 Went From Serie D to the Champions League
Published on September 14th, 2026Written By: Ariel Noel
Seven years ago, Como was playing in Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football.
Today, they are playing in the UEFA Champions League.
And not just participating.
In their first Champions League match, Como beat RB Leipzig 4-1 at the Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, the small lakeside stadium that has somehow become one of the most interesting places in European football.
The rise has been remarkably fast.
But it has not been accidental.
The turning point came in 2019, when Como was acquired by SENT Entertainment, backed by Indonesia's enormously wealthy Hartono family.
At the time, Como had only recently emerged from another period of financial trouble and was playing in Serie D.
The new owners brought something the club had badly needed: stability.
They also brought money.
Lots of it.
But money alone does not explain what has happened since.
Como won Serie D and moved into Serie C. Two years later, they won Serie C and earned promotion to Serie B.
Then came Cesc Fabregas.
Fabregas joined Como as a player in 2022 near the end of his career. He retired the following year, moved into coaching, and eventually took control of the first team.
By 2024, Como was back in Serie A for the first time in 21 years.
Their first season back was supposed to be about survival.
They finished tenth.
Their second was supposed to be about consolidation.
They finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League.
That is when the story changed.
Como was no longer simply a wealthy little club enjoying a quick trip through the Italian football pyramid.
They had become good.
Very good.
Fabregas deserves much of the credit.
Como plays ambitious football. They want the ball. They press. They attack. And perhaps most importantly, the club has recruited players who fit that idea rather than simply collecting recognizable names.
There have certainly been some famous ones along the way.
But Como has increasingly built around younger players with room to become something more.
Nico Paz. Assane Diao. Martin Baturina.
Baturina may be the latest example of what Como is becoming.
The Croatian midfielder arrived from Dinamo Zagreb in 2025 as one of the most highly regarded young players in Croatian football.
A little more than a year later, he scored Como's first ever Champions League goal.
Against Leipzig, Baturina opened the scoring after 15 minutes and went on to win UEFA's Player of the Match award in a 4-1 victory.
Not a bad way to introduce Como to the Champions League.
There is another advantage the club has that cannot exactly be purchased.
Como itself.
Lake Como is one of the most famous destinations in Europe. The stadium sits almost directly on the water, surrounded by mountains, villas, restaurants and one of Italy's most beautiful cities.
For players deciding where they want to spend the next few years of their lives, that probably does not hurt.
Baturina himself mentioned the city when he signed.
The ownership has understood this from the beginning. Como is being marketed not only as a football club, but as part of the identity of Lake Como itself.
That brings tourists, international attention and new supporters.
But the old supporters are still there too.
Como was founded in 1907. This is not a manufactured football club created in the last few years. The team had already spent numerous seasons in Serie A long before the current ownership arrived.
The Sinigaglia may be small, but it has become increasingly difficult to get into. Home matches regularly sell out, and the supporters have followed the club through divisions where Champions League football would have sounded ridiculous.
That history matters.
So does the location.
So does the money.
But none of those things work without the football.
That may be the most impressive part of what Como has built.
Plenty of wealthy owners have bought football clubs.
Plenty have spent heavily.
Very few have gone from Serie D to the Champions League in seven years.
Como has.
And after beating Leipzig 4-1 in their first game in the competition, there is now another question to ask.
How much higher can they go?
