Djarum's story about saving Como and being promoted to Serie A

Como 1907, a club owned by a business group from Indonesia, Djarum, managed to penetrate the Italian League< /a> Serie A after the results of the last Serie B match which ended dramatically, Saturday (11/5/2024) early morning WIB. This certainty was obtained after Como achieved a 1-1 draw against Cosenza, while their closest competitor, Venezia, lost 1-2 to Spezia.

Parma won Serie B with 76 points, while Como, who had 73 points, was in second place in the standings. The top two teams in Serie B have the right to get automatic tickets to Serie A. Meanwhile, Venezia, who is in third place, must undergo a playoff match, which is followed by teams in third to eighth place, to win the remaining promotion ticket.

We will enjoy tonight because we deserve it.

In the deciding match, Como supporters at the Giuseppe Sinigaglia Stadium were briefly shocked by Gennaro Tutino's goal that brought the visiting team ahead in the 30th minute. Then, Como striker Simone Verdi scored a penalty kick, 15 minutes before the end of the match, to bring "Lariani" to Serie A.

"We will enjoy tonight because we deserve it," Verdi told Sky Sport Italia.

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Before their success story under the ownership of the Djarum Group, Como suffered several bankruptcies and slipped from the highest level of Italian football competition. Two Arsenal legends, Cesc Fabregas - who also serves as assistant coach - and Thierry Henry, are minor shareholders of the club.

Playing in Serie A during the 2002/2003 season, Como's fate, on the contrary, plummeted. They immediately fell into the relegation abyss, even bankrupt in 2004. Due to no investor rescuing the club, Calcio Como S.p.A was liquidated.

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Thanks to regulations from the Italian football federation, FIGC, a new entity named Calcio Como S.r.I was allowed to participate in the Serie D competition. According to the club's website, Como then played six seasons in Serie C from 2009 to 2015.

They were briefly promoted to Serie B but then immediately relegated again, followed by financial problems that led to bankruptcy. This forced the club to be put up for auction. Akosua Puni Essien, the wife of former Chelsea and Persib Bandung player Michael Essien, won the auction and changed the club's name to FC Como. However, FIGC rejected FC Como's application to compete in Serie C, so another name, Como 1907, was registered to participate in the Serie D competition.

In 2019, Como 1907 was taken over by the Djarum Group, a business group run by the Hartono brothers. This business group with a value of billions of US dollars provides financial stability to Como. The Bloomberg Billionaires Index estimates that Budi Hartono's wealth reaches 21.7 billion US dollars, while his brother, Michael, reaches 20.2 billion US dollars.

According to The Athletic, Djarum spent 850,000 euros (Rp. 14 billion) and paid a debt of 150,000 euros (Rp. 2.6 billion) to take over Como, which was then promoted to Serie C. Hartono's name is not the first of these Indonesia is involved in club ownership in the Italian League. Previously, Erick Thohir owned Inter Milan before selling it in 2016.

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Under Djarum's ownership, Como quickly climbed the ladder of promotion. Djarum's ambition to bring Como to the top was evident when they brought in Fabregas as a player and later as Osian Roberts' assistant coach.

In the 2020/2021 season, Como was immediately promoted to Serie B after winning Serie C. The club's momentum continued in the 2021/2022 and 2022/2023 seasons in Serie B. Finally, the club's efforts to reach the highest level of Italian football competition were achieved this season. (AFP)