In just a few short years, the soccer club Como 1907 has transformed its small-town grit into a magnet for the international elite vacationing on Lake Como.
The Indonesian billionaire brothers, Robert and Michael Hartono, owners of the cigarette giant Djarum, bought the struggling club in 2019, when it was mired in the lower leagues. Since then, they have poured hundreds of millions into lifting Como into the upper reaches of Serie A, Italy’s top soccer league. Last season, the club finished 10th, just shy of the threshold for European competition—the aristocracy of old-world football.
Mirwan Suwarso, the 39-year-old president of Como, has a plan to close that gap. This past summer, the club invested about $125 million to rebuild the squad, signing world-class players such as striker Álvaro Morata while managing to retain its brightest young star, Argentina’s Nico Paz, who remains on Real Madrid’s books. Como brushed aside approaches from Europe’s elite to poach head coach Cesc Fàbregas, who is also a minority shareholder. French football legend Thierry Henry—a familiar face to American fans, thanks to his sharp punditry on CBS—has joined the venture as a minority shareholder as well.
Como opened its current season with a win over the more established Lazio, before falling to Bologna, the club owned by Canadian businessman Joey Saputo, who is pursuing a model not unlike the one the Indonesian giants are carrying out at Como. Since then, the team has had a streak of positive results and even managed to beat Juventus, a club worth $1.2 billion, consolidating its position in the table just behind the leading group.
In the Como project, soccer is the point—but only up to a point. The broader plan is to leverage the town of Como as a lifestyle brand and luxury destination. Suwarso cites Disney as his business model and has already begun work on renovating Sinigaglia, the local stadium. He aims to grow the club’s value to $1 billion.
Hollywood stars have also started appearing in the V.I.P. section of Sinigaglia. Last year, Keira Knightley, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Adrien Brody were among those cheering for a team still off the European soccer map. Even Hugh Grant, a devoted Fulham fan, was spotted gleefully pumping his fist after a goal. George and Amal Clooney—Lake Como’s star couple—have yet to be seen at the stadium, but everyone knows that if they were to attend a game, the club’s fortunes would instantly shine a little brighter.
Italian media have reported that the club has paid handsomely to lure these stars, offering generous fees and ultra-luxury hospitality for dream-weekend getaways. Rumors have even swirled about lavish post-match parties at the sumptuous Villa d’Este, once home to Princess Caroline Amelia of Brunswick, the Princess of Wales, and Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Alexander III.
Suwarso has dismissed the rumors, claiming it is the V.I.P.’s themselves who ask to be invited. “We don’t offer a fee, but we invite celebrities out to show them all that Como has to offer, including coming to a game,” said a club spokesperson. “We often then get celebrities recommending it to others or, indeed, we get celebrities reaching out to attend. It’s such a special experience to see a game by the lake.”
Among Suwarso’s plans for the next three years is to use revenue from V.I.P. packages to fund free entry for hardcore fans in the curva section (typically located behind the goals, and home to a club’s most fervent fans). The property has so far been careful to preserve—and monetize—the local atmosphere. Supporting gigantic, storied corporations such as Barcelona or Paris Saint-Germain is an anonymous affair shared with billions of fans worldwide. Cheering for Como, meanwhile, feels more akin to being a part of a highly exclusive club.
Mattia Ferraresi is the managing editor at the Italian newspaper Domani. You can read his past AIR MAIL stories on Trump’s mini-me and Pope Francis’s manuscript thief here
