The team, which had gone bankrupt twice, qualified for the Champions League.

(NLĐO) - In their second consecutive season in Serie A, Como FC has successfully secured a place in the Champions League for the first time.

The fairy tale of Italian football.

In the final round of this season's Serie A (early morning of May 25th, Vietnam time), Como will travel to the home ground of Cremonese, a club with former Leicester City star Jamie Vardy in their starting lineup.

In the match that would decide their qualification for next season's Champions League, the team from northern Italy started proactively and quickly made the difference thanks to goals from Jesus Rodriguez and Anastasios Douvikas.

Como will become a newcomer to the Champions League next season after 119 years since its founding (Photo: Como FC)

Although Vardy won a penalty that allowed Cremonese to reduce the deficit, the visitors completely controlled the game. In fact, in the final 20 minutes, three home players were sent off for protesting the referee's decision. Midfielder Lucas da Cunha then scored a brace, sealing a 4-1 victory for Como.

With AC Milan losing 1-2 to Cagliari and Juventus failing to beat Torino, Como FC secured their first Champions League spot in the club's 119-year history. This can be considered a true fairy tale for Italian football this season.

The first foreign female entrepreneur in Italian football.

Twenty-two years ago, this team declared bankruptcy and had to start over in the semi-professional Serie D. In the 2014-2015 season, Como was promoted to Serie B, but some financial problems arose the following year, forcing the northern Italian club to cease operations once again.

Como (in blue shirt) beat Juventus in both matches of this season's Serie A (Photo: Juventus FC)

At that time, Akosua Puni Essien, the first foreign female entrepreneur in Italian football, bought Como FC. The team was renamed Como 1907 Srl and was approved by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) to join Serie D as a newly established club.

In 2019, two Indonesian businessmen, Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono, took over Como. Thanks to the Hartono brothers' strong financial resources, the club gradually rebuilt itself and returned to the top division of Italian football in the 2024-2025 season, then finished in the top four in the 2025-2026 season and qualified for the Champions League.

The biggest influence on that journey was Cesc Fabregas. Under the guidance of the former Arsenal, Chelsea, and Barcelona midfielder, Como achieved 20 victories in Serie A this season. This included a 2-0 win against Juventus, the most successful team in the Italian league with 36 titles.

Notably, Como's squad is relatively young, with many players under the age of 23 and primarily foreign players. Statistically, the team only has two Italian-born players: Mauro Vigorito and Edoardo Goldaniga. The 36-year-old goalkeeper has had no playing time this season, while center-back Goldaniga has only played a total of 14 minutes in 38 Serie A matches.

Como is also the club with the most foreign players in the Italian Serie A this season, almost reaching 100%.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/doi-bong-tung-pha-san-2-lan-gianh-ve-du-champions-league-19626052512283509.htm