Como president Suwarso: Italian football must open up to the world | OneFootball

In the Serie A landscape, there is a project that has been attracting attention for over a year due to its ambition, investments, and strategic vision. It’s that of Como 1907, led by Indonesian president Mirwan Suwarso, a trusted manager of the Hartono family, who have owned the club since 2019.

Como, President Suwarso Looks to the De Laurentiis Model: “Italian Football Must Open Up to the World”

In an interview with La Stampa, Suwarso outlined the model that Como is building, taking inspiration from virtuous examples in Italian football such as Napoli, Atalanta, and Bologna, and pointing to Aurelio De Laurentiis as the first president to have changed the perspective within the country’s football system.

“De Laurentiis brought a new point of view to Italian football” “The first to bring a new point of view to Italian football was De Laurentiis,” Suwarso declared. “We don’t have a city as big as Naples behind us, so we have to take a different path. Here, our brand is Lake Como: we aim to integrate football, tourism, and merchandising.”

Words that reveal a broader vision of football, seen not only as a sporting activity but as an economic and cultural asset, capable of generating value through territorial development and international openness.

Investments of 100 Million: Como Among the Most Active Clubs in Europe Como was one of the protagonists of the summer football transfer market: 100 million euros invested, a figure that places it among the top ten clubs in Europe for spending, behind only giants like Real Madrid, Liverpool, and Chelsea. But for Suwarso, it’s a long-term strategic operation: “They’re not too much if we look to the future. We’ve focused on young talents. The goal is to start a cycle and, at the same time, build an exciting and sustainable team, capable of self-financing.”

A gradual and planned approach, aiming to build not only a competitive squad but also a solid management model.

“Italy’s Problem? It Only Speaks Italian. That Way, You Don’t Grow” Suwarso also touched on one of the critical issues of the Italian football system: the lack of international openness, not so much in terms of talent, but in communication and football culture.

“In Italy, unfortunately, only Italian is spoken. The television, the articles, the communities communicate in a language that is incomprehensible to outsiders. This limits growth. On the contrary, we need to aim to involve new markets and attract an international audience. Italy has great teams and great players, but a shift in the vision of the football product is needed.”

A call for the need to modernize the system, not only in infrastructure and governance but also in how football is told and promoted.

Champions League? “No Obsession, Just a Journey” From a sporting point of view, Suwarso preaches patience. “We have no obsessions. The goal is to get there through a natural process, as Atalanta and Bologna have done. We will gradually reduce investments as the project becomes sustainable.”

Dreams and Realism: “Messi at Como? Just a Dream, No Contact” The interview ends with a curiosity: the presence of Lionel Messi’s wife at the stadium for the friendly against Lille sparked transfer rumors. Suwarso responds with irony: “She was a guest of Fabregas’s wife, I wasn’t aware of it. Messi at Como would be a dream, but we haven’t had any contact. Why would he ever leave a team where he earns all that money?”

Como, a Project Beyond the Pitch The Como project is shaping up to be one of the most interesting new developments in Italian football: a club that looks to the long term, invests in territorial identity and internationalization, and takes inspiration from those who have managed to innovate—like De Laurentiis at Napoli—to try to write a new story. A story in which football and territory walk together, in an Italian football scene that urgently needs new models.

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