The Beautiful Game in a beautiful place

Opinion

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This article was published 09/08/2024 (394 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is “the most beautiful game in the most beautiful place.”

That’s how they’re selling it, anyway. Not that their sales job is all that difficult.

Ticket-holders for Como 1907 football matches, if they happen to be seated on the east curve of Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, will look out at the hillcrests of the Spina Verde. If they’re at the opposite end, they’ll see the dramatic slopes of Monte Boletto rising over the pristine waters of the glacial Lake Como. And if they’re watching from the north stand, they’ll be just behind the yacht club.

If the match they’re attending happens to be within the next nine months, they’ll also be sharing a taste of the club’s first Serie A campaign in more than 20 years.

You get the feeling that results, while important, are not of the utmost consequence in this postcard setting. It’s a leisurely, romantic place – somewhere George Clooney might propose to Amal Alamuddin, or where Alfred Hitchcock, Frank Sinatra or Madonna might stop by for some luxurious R&R.

Como 1907 won’t easily turn this city of 84,000 into a football town, and they don’t really need to. In the short term, it would be enough if the club’s matches simply enjoyed a greater share of the lake region’s cultural panorama. Hardly an insignificant goal.

In 2023-24, while in Serie B, Como’s attendance ranked 14th in Italy’s second tier, and they counted just under 3,600 season ticket subscribers. But when a five-game winning streak from mid-March put promotion within reach, the club’s billionaire owners accelerated their investment.

After a May draw with Cosenza secured their return to the top flight, Como’s attention turned to recruitment. Again, they didn’t have to do very much.

In June, Italy striker Andrea Belotti signed up from AS Roma. Defender Alberto Dossena, midfielder Luca Mazitelli and forward Gabriel Strefezza joined within the week. Last month’s additions included goalkeepers Pepe Reina and Emil Audero, fullback Alberto Moreno and ex-Real Madrid and Manchester United defender Raphael Varane.

Last week Yannick Engelhardt, a former Germany youth international, was acquired for a club-record fee of €8 million.

Three of the new additions started Como’s friendly against Wolfsburg last weekend, and no doubt more will feature in Sunday’s Coppa Italia showdown at Sampdoria (1:45 p.m.).

There are any number of reasons why a player would move to the lakeshore, and the club is certainly not shy about showcasing the non-footballing elements that make it a unique destination. They regularly release short films that highlight the city’s food, scenery, hiking trails and, inevitably, association with the rich and famous.

Some of the more popular videos feature Hitchcock, a lasting favourite, as well as Taylor Swift and Travic Kelce. They also produce a slick series entitled “Taste of Como.”

The not-so-subtle subtext is that this place is special – and that tourist-fans should include a Como match on their itineraries and then perhaps buy a €355 club handbag as a souvenir.

Cesc Fabregas, however, expects players who wear the blue and white kit to understand that they’re more than a gimmick.

A World Cup winner with Spain and elite midfielder at Arsenal and Barcelona, the 37-year-old is about to oversee his first full season as Como manager, and his vision for the club was sufficient to attract the likes of Varane, another world champion, who could have gone anywhere else. His presence also convinced former Arsenal teammate Thierry Henry, most recently the manager of France’s Olympic squad, to become a minority owner.

(Quite fascinatingly, there’s also a Winnipeg link to Como 1907. Assistant manager Marc Bircham, who played 17 times for Canada, had a grandfather in the Manitoba capital.)

A small, aging stadium that requires significant renovation, as well as the restraints of Financial Fair Play, means Fabregas’s vision to grow the club’s presence in the city by remaining in Serie A will not be an easy one. And a schedule that keeps the team on the road for the first month of the season while basic improvements are made to the ground is yet another complicating factor.

As a result, there’s a feeling that Como’s presence in Italy’s best league might be a brief one, though not an unmemorable one. And yet, it’s that sense of the precious and fleeting that only enhances the novelty of having top-flight football in this very picturesque, very special location.

Fabregas may not want to hear that, nor his players. But it might be worth grabbing one of those hand bags, just in case.

jerradpeters@gmail.com

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