Como have just returned to Italy’s top flight after a 21-year absence.
Although a small club in Serie A terms they are coached by former Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas and bolstered by a string of summer signings, including ex-Barcelona midfielder Sergi Roberto and former Spanish national goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
Having failed to win any of their first four matches, they finally picked up their first three points at Atalanta on Tuesday.
But Serie A survival, plus the revamp of Como’s historic and scenic lakeside Giuseppe Sinigagliastadium, are just strands of a multi-pronged strategy that has soccer at its heart but stretches to travel, fashion and the media.
When London-based Sent Entertainment, part of the Hartonos’ conglomerate Djarum, took over the club in 2019, the team was struggling in lowly Serie D after years of financial troubles.
Their first idea was to produce a documentary on an amateur soccer club.
“Slowly we realised that the opportunity was far greater than what we originally thought,” said Mirwan Suwarso, the executive who represents the ownership.
“We’d like to create a model similar to that of Disney, where the centre of the business is the lake, is Como, is the city.
“That’s our business. That’s how we see us,” he told Reuters.
Como’s attraction
Boosted by the presence of Hollywood star George Clooney, who has owned a local villa since the early 2000s, Lake Como in northern Italy is a booming destination for foreign tourism.
The club and its owners, who have a fortune of some US$48 billion according to Forbes, are eager to seize the opportunities offered by playing in such a beautiful spot.
“We will create travel packages to bring people to Como from the US and the UK.
“The initial stage is to utilise the game experience, but we will marry it with things that are exclusively only available in Como,” said Suwarso.
The club, in which former France striker Thierry Henry is also a shareholder, has invested in a local brewery producing silk-filtered beer and partnered with fashion brands to create sporting and urban streetwear collections.
“The retail division does not sell only Como’s football team stuff. We have now created our own Como-linked brands.
“We’re developing an urban streetwear (line) and we will have women’s wear as well,” said the executive.
There are also plans to expand the club’s video-streaming platform, which currently hosts Como-related sporting and lifestyle content.
While Como still has a long way to go before becoming an established Serie A force, Suwarso expressed his full confidence in Fabregas, who initially joined the club as a player after an illustrious career at Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona.
“We’re not too concerned about where we are right now because we can see from game to game that our performance is getting better.
“The goal is to survive the season and then to build again from this season to the next,” he said.