Como's Victory: An Uncomfortable Mirror

Monday morning, 25 May 2026. Como 1907 defeated Cremonese 4-1, marking the first time in the club’s 119-year history that the I Lariani will compete in the Champions League. Across Indonesia, social media erupted. The hashtag #Como was trending as people celebrated as if the national team had just qualified for the World Cup. But let’s pause here. What exactly are we celebrating? Como 1907 is an Italian club, coached by a Spaniard, with players from Argentina, Greece, France, and Spain. Based in Italy, competing in Serie A, next season they will face European giants on a stage previously only watched from afar. The Indonesian connection is purely financial. Brothers Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono, heirs to the Djarum cigarette empire and controlling shareholders of Bank Central Asia, purchased Como in April 2019 for approximately €850,000 when the club was bankrupt and stranded in Serie D. In seven seasons, they elevated it from amateur division to the Champions League. This achievement is remarkable—a business story, a testament to managerial competence, a case study in sports investment. Blurring the two is not only inappropriate but misleading, obscuring the more critical question: why can such capital and vision only succeed abroad? Indonesia is home to two individuals whose combined wealth, estimated by various rating agencies to exceed $40 billion, has built a club in Italy now competing with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s national team has never once qualified for the World Cup finals. These two facts coexist without tension, as if perfectly normal.