An Italian football club acquired by Indonesia’s Hartono family for around €850,000 has now beaten Manchester United 4-1 in the UEFA Champions League. The club is Como 1907, which was still competing in Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football, when the family took over in 2019.
Como’s journey to European football’s biggest stage began with a rather different idea. When Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono acquired the club in April 2019, their initial goal was not to build a team capable of competing with Europe’s biggest sides.
Instead, they wanted to turn Como into the setting for a television programme featuring young Indonesian footballers.
That plan eventually changed as Como climbed through the Italian leagues. Under the Hartono family’s ownership, the club gradually developed into a business built around football, tourism, and the international appeal of Lake Como. The journey took them back to Serie A in 2024 and, two years later, into the Champions League.
From the Hartono Family Business to Italian Football
The acquisition was made through Sent Entertainment, a company affiliated with Djarum Group, which is owned by Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono. The two are sons of Oei Wie Gwan, who founded Djarum in 1951.
Djarum started with around 10 employees before growing into one of the world's largest clove cigarette manufacturers. The Hartono family later expanded into banking after acquiring a controlling stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA) following the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s.
On 1 March 2026, Forbes ranked Robert Budi as Indonesia’s third-richest person, with an estimated fortune of US$19.6 billion. Michael ranked fourth with US$18.9 billion. He died in Singapore on 19 March 2026, aged 86. Despite his passing, the Hartono family remained committed to its ownership of Como.
Young Indonesian Players Were Part of the Original Plan
The idea of buying Como was developed by Mirwan Suwarso, whose background was in advertising, television, and film production. He had previously been involved with Garuda Select, a programme that brought young Indonesian footballers to train and compete against European football academies.
That experience inspired the idea of creating a similar programme based around a professional football club. The plan was to acquire an affordable team, bring Indonesian players into its squad, and document their experience competing in Italian football for a television series.
However, the plan changed when Como earned promotion to Serie C in 2019. League regulations restricted the registration of professional players from outside the European Union, making it difficult to include Indonesian players in the first team as originally intended.
The television project was subsequently turned into a documentary series following the club's journey. Although it received positive reviews, its revenue was not enough to cover production costs.
Things became more complicated when Como earned another promotion to Serie B. The cost of running the club increased, while its income was not yet sufficient to support its long-term ambitions. The owners even considered selling the club before deciding to develop Como as a business instead.
They also believed that clubs playing in the second division had more limited commercial opportunities than those in Serie A. Promotion to Italy's top flight therefore became one of their main priorities.
Turning Lake Como into a Business Asset
After the original plan changed, Como began building an identity that extended beyond football. Suwarso, who moved to London in 2023 and became the club's chairman in October 2024, saw Lake Como as an asset that could help drive the club's commercial growth.
Lake Como is one of Italy's best-known tourist destinations, famous for its mountain scenery, historic villas, and lakeside villages that attract international visitors. Suwarso sought to make the lake and its surrounding landscape central to the club's identity and marketing strategy.
In an interview with SportsPro, he described the approach by saying, "We don't have sporting ambition, we have business ambition." For him, Como needed to build a strong business foundation to sustain its growth.
This strategy can be seen in the way the club packages the matchday experience. Visitors can purchase packages combining football tickets with boat trips across the lake, city tours, and premium services. International visitors now account for around 40 per cent of Como's ticket revenue.
The club's merchandise business has also grown significantly. When Suwarso first became involved, annual merchandise revenue stood at around €53,000.
Last year, it exceeded €10 million, with a target of €34–40 million in 2026. To expand its reach, Como operates four of its own stores and around 480 affiliated outlets across the province.
Major Investment Takes Como to the Champions League
Alongside its commercial strategy, the Hartono family has invested heavily in building a competitive squad. After returning to Serie A in 2024, Como finished tenth in its first season back. In the 2025/26 season, the club climbed to fourth place with 71 points, one point ahead of AC Milan.
The result secured Como a place in the Champions League for the first time in its 119-year history. Under the guidance of Cesc Fàbregas, who joined the club as a player in 2022 before moving into coaching, Como developed into a team capable of competing with some of Europe's established clubs.
On 21 October 2026, that progress was on display when Como defeated Manchester United 4-1. Nico Paz scored twice and provided an assist, while Anastasios Douvikas and Jacobo Ramón also found the net. The result became one of the club's most notable achievements in European competition.
However, success on the pitch has come at a considerable cost. In the 2024/25 financial year, which ended on 30 June 2025, Como recorded €55.4 million in revenue against €158.6 million in expenses, resulting in a net loss of approximately €105 million.
To finance the club's development, shareholders injected more than €133 million during that period. Another €69 million was added in the first few months of the 2025/26 season. The figures show that Como's rise has been supported not only by its commercial strategy and sporting results, but also by substantial financial backing from its owners.
Suwarso has an even longer-term ambition. He aims to turn Como into a business group valued at US$1 billion by 2038. What began as a television project involving young Indonesian footballers has since evolved into a long-term investment by the Hartono family in Italian football and tourism.
