How Como 1907 Went From Serie D to the Champions League Under the Hartono Family

Short answer: The Hartono brothers bought Como 1907 in April 2019 while the club was in Serie D, and it reached Serie A in 2024. Como finished fourth in 2025/26 and qualified for the Champions League for the first time. Reported prices for the 2019 deal are below €1 million.

If you ask the average football supporter who owns the richest clubs in Italy, you will hear familiar names: the Agnelli-Elkann family’s Exor at Juventus, American investment firm RedBird at AC Milan, or California asset manager Oaktree Capital at Inter.

Few would name Como.

Yet one of the two richest individual owners in Italian football sits on the postcard-perfect shores of Lake Como, where water taxis glide past neoclassical villas beneath the Italian Alps. Como 1907‘s owner R. Budi Hartono is worth $12.7 billion on Forbes’ real-time list (27 October 2026), level with Roma’s Dan Friedkin.

As highlighted in our study of the top 10 richest football club owners in the world, Como 1907 is one of the most interesting ownership stories in football. Here is how two Indonesian brothers took a club refounded in Serie D to a Champions League place in Serie A.

Who Are the Hartono Brothers? (The Djarum & Banking Empire)

To understand Como’s spending power, you have to look some 11,000 kilometers east to Indonesia. Robert Budi Hartono (86) and his brother Michael Bambang Hartono, who died in March 2026 aged 86, built one of Asia’s largest family fortunes.

Forbes’ annual list of Indonesia’s richest people still ranked the brothers first in December 2025, with $43.8 billion between them. Since then, Michael’s death and a lower Forbes valuation for R. Budi have changed the picture:

The foundation of the family fortune was Djarum. Their father, Oei Wie Gwan, bought a bankrupt cigarette company in 1950 and later renamed it Djarum, and it remains one of Indonesia’s biggest makers of kretek (clove cigarettes). Their biggest move came after the 1997–98 Asian financial crisis, when the brothers bought a stake in Bank Central Asia (BCA) after the Salim family lost control of the bank. Forbes says BCA now provides the bulk of their fortune. BCA is Indonesia’s largest private bank, but it is not the region’s most valuable lender: its market value was about $33.6 billion in October 2026, against about $164.5 billion for Singapore’s DBS.

How Como’s Owners Compare to Italy’s Traditional Giants

On Forbes’ real-time list of 27 October 2026, Como’s R. Budi Hartono and Roma’s Dan Friedkin are level at $12.7 billion each, well ahead of John Elkann, chairman of Juventus owner Exor, at $2.4 billion. Inter (Oaktree) and AC Milan (RedBird) are owned by investment funds, so there is no comparable personal figure. Fiorentina’s owner Rocco Commisso died in January 2026.

Our ranking of all 20 Serie A clubs by annual wage bill shows how Como’s payroll compares with Juventus, Inter and the rest of the league.

How did the Hartono brothers take Como from Serie D to Serie A?

Como went bankrupt in 2016, and a new company refounded the club in Serie D in 2017. On 4 April 2019, during the 2018–19 season that Como finished as Serie D group winners, the Hartono brothers bought the club through their London-based company SENT Entertainment. The price was small. Indonesian outlet IDX Channel reported €850,000 plus €150,000 of debts paid off, while Italy’s Borsa & Finanza put the payment to the previous owner at about €200,000.

Unlike other billionaire owners who arrived in European football with loud press conferences and immediate transfer splurges, the Hartonos executed a quiet, step-by-step turnaround:

1. The Smart Multi-Sport Structure: They appointed former Chelsea and England midfielder Dennis Wise as CEO to overhaul the sporting culture.
2. The Star Shareholder Strategy: In 2022, World Cup winners Cesc Fàbregas and Thierry Henry became minority shareholders. Fàbregas finished his playing career at Como and moved into coaching, becoming head coach.
3. Organic Promotion: Rather than buying ready-made superstars, Como climbed from Serie D to Serie A by May 2024, returning to Italy’s top flight for the first time in 21 years. In 2025/26 they finished fourth and qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
4. Digital Expansion: As our ranking of the most followed Serie A clubs on Instagram shows, Como have built a fast-growing online following, blending lakeside lifestyle appeal with football.

How did Como build a squad around Nico Paz and Sergi Roberto?

When Como secured Serie A promotion, pundits assumed they would follow the disastrous blueprint of QPR or Anzhi Makhachkala, signing overpaid veterans on astronomical wages.

Instead, Como’s recruitment under Fàbregas mixed young talent with experience:

• Nico Paz (a reported €6M from Real Madrid, 2024): Como signed Real Madrid’s Argentine playmaker, with Madrid keeping a 50% sell-on clause and buy-back options. He became the fulcrum of their midfield. In June 2026 the clubs agreed he would stay at Como for 2026/27, with Madrid holding a buy-back option for 2027/28.
• Sergi Roberto & Alberto Moreno: Experienced signings who brought European silverware pedigree.
• Gabriel Strefezza & Alieu Fadera: Wingers signed from Lecce (2024) and Genk (2024) to add pace. Strefezza has since left for Olympiacos (2025), and Fadera is on loan at Cagliari in 2026/27.

How is Como rebuilding Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia?

Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia has one of the most striking settings in European football, right on the shore of Lake Como.

The Hartono family is backing a full redevelopment of the stadium, with initial concepts by architecture firm Populous unveiled in February 2025. The plan targets a capacity of 15,000 to 20,000, with a first phase due in October 2027 and completion by August 2028. The cost has not been disclosed.

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