Boardroom tickets and older supporters at Como's European debut

The gesture in plain terms

Every professional football match has a small group of seats that never go on general sale. They are kept for the club's directors, its owners, officials from the visiting club, guests of the competition organiser and commercial partners. They are usually called the directors' box, the presidential tribune or the VIP area. On a normal matchday the public hardly notices them. They become noticed when demand for a game is far greater than the number of seats.

According to the BBC, Como's leadership has decided to give up some of these places for the club's Champions League debut. The president and several board members will not use their personal tickets. The seats will go to older supporters, so that people who have followed the club for a long time can be there for a moment in its history. The report does not say how many seats are involved, how the supporters will be chosen, or whether the places are in the directors' area or somewhere else in the ground. Those details are not known.

Where it came from

To understand why this matters, it helps to know how a club like Como reaches the competition. In Italy, Champions League places are earned through league position in Serie A. The number of places a country receives depends on UEFA's coefficient system, which rewards how well a nation's clubs have done in Europe over recent seasons. A club that finishes high enough in its domestic league takes one of those places. For a club with no history in the competition, qualifying turns a regular home fixture into an event for which demand is far higher than supply.

Como is a historic Italian club from a small lakeside city. It has spent long periods away from the top division. Over the years it has gone through financial collapse and rebuilt itself in the lower leagues. Under its present ownership the club has gone back up the divisions and invested heavily in the squad and the club's infrastructure. That journey matters here. The supporters who stayed with the club through the lower divisions are often the oldest ones. A first night in the Champions League is the kind of occasion they may have stopped expecting. The BBC report presents the directors' decision in that context.

How it works today

Ticketing for a Champions League match is not entirely up to the home club. UEFA runs the competition centrally and sells its broadcast and sponsorship rights as one package. As a result, its regulations require the home club to keep certain seats for purposes that have nothing to do with its own supporters. These include space for the visiting club's supporters, seats and hospitality for UEFA officials and match delegates, places for the competition's commercial partners, and positions for media and broadcast staff. The home club also has to provide protocol seating for the visiting club's directors. That follows a long tradition in European football that the two boards watch the match together.

Only the seats left over after these obligations are met go to the home club's own season-ticket holders, members and the general public. When a club has a small ground, this remainder can be much smaller than local demand. The home club then has to decide how to share it out. Common methods include priority for season-ticket holders, ballots, loyalty points or membership tiers.

A club's own allocation for directors and guests is one of the few parts of this system it fully controls. Giving those places up does not change the capacity of the stadium, and it does not alter UEFA's requirements. What it does is move a small number of seats from the club's own executive group to its supporters. That is the mechanism behind the Como decision as the BBC describes it. It is a voluntary transfer within the club's discretionary allocation, not a change to the rules of the competition.

What people commonly get wrong

One common belief is that a home club can sell every seat in its ground to its own fans for a European night. It cannot. Part of the stadium is always committed in advance to the visiting supporters, the organiser, partners and the media. Because of this, supporters of a club with a smaller stadium often feel squeezed out at exactly the matches they most want to see.

A second belief is that directors' seats are a large pool that could solve any ticket shortage. In most grounds the directors' box is small. Giving it up is meaningful as a gesture and to the people who receive the seats, but it cannot fix a gap between demand and capacity. Nothing in the BBC report suggests Como is presenting it as a fix of that kind.

A third belief is that hospitality seats and directors' seats are the same thing. Hospitality packages are commercial products that clubs sell to businesses and individuals, and they bring in revenue. Directors' and protocol seats are generally not sold. They exist for governance and ceremonial reasons. Giving up a directors' seat costs the club no ticket income in the way that giving away a hospitality package would.

Finally, some readers assume that the competition organiser chooses who sits where in the home club's own allocation. It does not. UEFA sets the categories and minimum requirements. The home club decides how its share is distributed among its own supporters, within those rules.

Where to look next

The most direct source is the club. Como's official channels will publish any information on how the seats are being allocated and who is eligible. Anyone interested in the wider rules should read UEFA's published regulations for its club competitions. They set out the obligations a home club takes on, including away allocations and the reservation of seats for the organiser and partners.

For the qualification side, UEFA's explanation of its coefficient system shows how a country's number of Champions League places is decided. Serie A's own documents explain how those places are divided among Italian clubs. Supporter organisations, both in Italy and at European level, regularly publish material on ticket pricing, allocation and access for older and disabled fans. That work helps show why decisions like Como's are noticed. Finally, the original BBC report is the primary account of what the club has done.

Frequently asked questions

Why are Como directors giving up their Champions League tickets?

The BBC reports that Como's president, Mirwan Suwarso, and several directors are giving up their tickets for the club's Champions League debut so that elderly supporters can attend. The aim is to let long-standing fans see the club's first match in the competition. The report does not say exactly how many seats are involved or how the older supporters will be chosen.

Can a home club give all its stadium seats to its own fans in the Champions League?

No. UEFA's club competition rules require the home club to keep seats for the visiting supporters, UEFA officials, commercial partners, the media and protocol guests. Only the seats left over go to the home club's members and the public. A club cannot ignore these obligations, even for a match that its own supporters badly want to attend.

What is a directors' box in football?

A directors' box is a small seating area kept for the club's board, owners, invited guests and officials from the visiting club. It exists for governance and ceremonial reasons rather than to earn money. These seats are normally not sold to the public, so a club's leadership can choose to give them to supporters without losing ticket revenue.

How does an Italian club qualify for the Champions League?

Italian clubs qualify through their final position in Serie A. The number of Champions League places Italy receives depends on UEFA's coefficient system, which measures how well the country's clubs have done in European competition over recent seasons. Clubs that finish high enough in the league take those places, and some routes depend on each season's allocation.

Does giving up directors' seats solve ticket shortages?

Not on its own. A directors' box is usually a small part of a stadium's capacity, so giving it up moves only a limited number of seats to supporters. It does not change the size of the ground or UEFA's reserved allocations. Its value is as a gesture of priority towards particular supporters, not as a fix for the gap between demand and capacity.

Sources and further reading

• BBC Sport: original report on the Como directors' decision about their tickets
• UEFA: published regulations for its club competitions, covering ticketing and seat reservations
• UEFA: explanatory material on the association coefficient system and how Champions League places are allocated
• Como 1907: official club communications on match ticketing and supporter access