Milan-Como in Australia, Como fans protest: “A snapshot of a rotten system” | OneFootball

The decision to play Milan-Como in Perth sparks the anger of the Lario fans. The curve attacks: “Football no longer belongs to the people, but to business.”

Milan-Como in Australia, the protest of the Lario fans: “A snapshot of a rotten system”

It’s official: the match between Milan and Como, valid for the 2025/2026 Serie A, will be played in Perth, Australia, on February 20, 2026. The decision, approved by UEFA and welcomed by Serie A as part of the league’s internationalization project, has however triggered a real storm.

The choice to move an all-Lombardy match from Italy to the other side of the world provoked the immediate reaction of Como’s fans, who in a harsh statement expressed all their dissent.

The statement from Como’s curva: “This isn’t football, it’s business”

Como’s Curva released an official note denouncing the loss of football’s authentic values and the excessive commodification of the game. The statement reads:

“UEFA has given the OK: Milan-Como in Perth, Australia. Here’s yet another demonstration that this football has nothing popular about it anymore. People no longer matter, fans no longer matter, passion no longer matters. Only money matters.”

The Lario supporters continue in very harsh tones:

“A match that should belong to those who live the terraces, who rack up miles, who sacrifice themselves every Sunday is torn away and turned into a show on the other side of the world. For whom? For sponsors, TV and economic interests. Certainly not for the fans. This is not football. It’s a packaged spectacle for those watching from a screen, light-years away from what happens in the stands.”

“Milan-Como 14,000 km away is the snapshot of a rotten system”

In the statement, the curva doesn’t spare criticism even for the football system as a whole, accused of having lost its popular roots:

“In Italy, football is viscerally tied to the territory. We are a parochial country by nature, where every city and province defends its identity. Milan-Como is a clash between two Lombard realities, between lake and metropolis. What sense does it make to play it 14,000 kilometers away? It’s the snapshot of a rotten system: matches sold like tourist packages, identity and history trampled in the name of profit.”

The note ends with a call for resistance from the organized supporters:

“The football we knew, the football for everyone, no longer exists. But as long as there are curvas that resist and someone to shout that the ball belongs to the people and not to the merchants, they won’t have completely won. Football was born popular, and popular it must remain. Everything else is just business disguised as passion.”

A divisive choice: between globalization and local identity

The decision to play Milan-Como in Australia is part of a broader strategy aimed at exporting the Serie A brand to international markets, following the example of La Liga and the Premier League, which are already active in this sense.

However, the initiative raises profound questions about the relationship between football and its territory. Local fan bases perceive the move as a betrayal of the game’s popular roots, while football institutions defend the choice as necessary for the league’s economic growth and global appeal.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.