Como president gives up Champions League seats for loyal fans born in 1950 or earlier

In a sport where executives routinely hoard the best seats for themselves and their corporate guests, Como 1907 president Mirwan Suwarso is doing the opposite. He and the club’s directors are giving up their personal seats at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia so that supporters born in 1950 or earlier can watch the club’s first-ever Champions League match in person.

The gesture is for Como’s home debut against RB Leipzig on September 10, 2026. It marks the first time in the club’s 119-year history that they will compete in European competition.

From bankruptcy to the Champions League in seven years

Como’s trajectory reads like a football fairy tale that even the most optimistic screenwriter would reject as unrealistic. The club was playing in Serie D, Italy’s fourth tier, after falling into financial ruin. Seven years later, they’re preparing to host Champions League football.

The turnaround began under the ownership of the Hartono family, the Indonesian billionaires behind the Djarum conglomerate. Their investment, channeled through Sent Entertainment, provided the financial backbone for a club that had essentially been left for dead.

Cesc Fàbregas, the former Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chelsea midfielder, took over as head coach in 2022. Under his guidance, Como climbed through the Italian football pyramid with remarkable speed, ending a 21-year absence from Serie A with their promotion in the 2024/25 season.

Then came the real surprise. Como finished the 2025/26 Serie A campaign in fourth place with 71 points, securing qualification for the 2026/27 Champions League. For context, this is a club with a stadium that holds roughly 11,000 people after recent renovations. They are, by a wide margin, the smallest club to qualify for the competition in years.

Why the seats matter more than the gesture

Suwarso, who became president in October 2024, could have treated Champions League night as a networking opportunity. Instead, he chose to fill those seats with people who remember Como when it was anything but glamorous.

The decision reflects a broader philosophy that Suwarso has been building since taking charge. The president has spoken about combining sporting ambition with the tourism economy around Lake Como, one of Italy’s most famous destinations. Suwarso has indicated a target of reaching profitability within approximately two years, with non-football revenue streams like tourism partnerships and merchandising playing a central role.

The Sinigaglia factor

There’s a practical dimension to the gesture that makes it even more significant. The Stadio Sinigaglia, nestled on the shores of Lake Como, recently underwent substantial upgrades to meet UEFA standards for European competition. The reconstruction of one of the stands actually reduced the stadium’s capacity to around 11,000 seats.

That means every single seat for the Leipzig match is extraordinarily valuable. When your stadium is smaller than some concert venues, giving away premium locations isn’t a token gesture. It’s a meaningful sacrifice of both prestige and potential revenue.

UEFA’s approval of the renovated Sinigaglia was itself a milestone. Many observers expected Como to be forced to play their European home matches at a larger venue elsewhere in Italy.

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