What can Manchester United learn from Como's rise to the elite?

Key takeaways

• The BBC reports that Como have gone from Serie D to the Champions League, and frames their rise as a lesson for Manchester United.
• Como's climb came from long-term ownership investment, a clear sporting identity and focused recruitment, not from an established commercial base.
• In Italy, Champions League places are earned through league position, and Serie A's allocation depends on UEFA's coefficient system.
• Loan and sale arrangements with buy-back terms let smaller clubs sign talent that bigger clubs want to keep an option on.
• UEFA's squad-cost rules mean that ambitious owners still have to tie spending to the club's revenue, however wealthy they are.

What is happening with Como and Manchester United?

The BBC reports that Como, a club from the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy, have gone from Serie D to the Champions League. It presents that journey as a lesson for Manchester United, one of the biggest commercial names in world football. The report puts the head coach, Cesc Fabregas, and the midfielder Nico Paz at the centre of the story.

This article does not describe any specific match or result. What follows explains the system behind the comparison: how a club rises through Italy's divisions, how a Champions League place is earned, and why a smaller club's model can be held up against a much bigger one.

Why is this in the news now?

The story is current because Como are now in Europe's top club competition. Reaching the Champions League changes a club's standing straight away: more money, wider broadcast exposure and a new set of rules. The BBC piece uses that moment to compare the clubs' approaches.

The comparison stands out because the clubs are so different. Manchester United have a global fan base, a huge commercial operation and a long record of European success. Como have none of that history at the top level. So the BBC's framing is about method, not resources: what a club does with what it has.

What background does a newcomer need?

Italian football runs on promotion and relegation. Serie A is the top division, Serie B the second, Serie C the third and Serie D the fourth. Serie D is the top tier of amateur football, organised regionally. To climb from it, a club has to win promotion several times in a row, and each step brings higher costs and tougher rules on licensing, stadiums and finances.

Como's route ran through every one of those stages. The BBC calls the club a Serie A success story. The exact timeline and the size of the investment behind each promotion are not set out in the source material.

Qualifying for the Champions League is a separate system. UEFA decides how many places each national association gets, based on its coefficient: a ranking built from how that country's clubs have done in European competition over recent seasons. Serie A's top finishers qualify directly. Under the current format there is also a performance-based mechanism that can award an extra place to the associations whose clubs did best in Europe in the previous season. So Italy's allocation depends partly on how every Italian club does in Europe.

Once a club is in, the competition now begins with a single league phase. Every club plays eight matches against different opponents, drawn from seeding pots. The top eight go straight to the last 16, and the clubs placed between ninth and 24th play off for the remaining places.

Who is affected, and how?

Como. Champions League participation brings UEFA prize money, payments linked to coefficient rankings and market pool income from broadcasting. For a club with a modest historical revenue base, that money can change the budget a great deal. It also brings tighter scrutiny under UEFA's licensing and financial rules.

Manchester United. The BBC's framing makes the English club the point of comparison. For a club of that size, the question is less about money and more about structure: how decisions on recruitment and coaching are made, and whether they follow one clear plan.

Serie A as a whole. Every European campaign by an Italian club adds to the national coefficient. A new club doing well in Europe helps protect Italy's allocation of places for the rest of the league.

Smaller clubs elsewhere. Como's rise will be studied as a template by clubs in lower divisions with ambitious owners. They will also learn that the template depends on conditions that are hard to copy.

Where do informed people disagree?

The main disagreement is over how far a model like Como's can be copied. One view says the lesson is about clarity: a defined playing style, a coach trusted to carry it out, and recruitment built around that coach. On this view, any club with discipline can learn from it, whatever its size.

The other view says that rises of this kind depend on owners who can fund losses through several promotions before any return comes in. Without that patient capital, the method alone would not have been enough. On this view, comparing such a club with Manchester United says more about different ownership structures than about who manages better.

There is also debate about loan and buy-back arrangements. Supporters say they let smaller clubs field players they could never otherwise afford, and give those players regular top-level football. Critics say the arrangements can leave the smaller club developing value that a richer club can later reclaim on pre-agreed terms. The specific terms of the arrangement involving Paz are not set out in the source material.

What are the practical implications?

For a newly qualified club, the first practical issue is squad registration. UEFA requires clubs to submit a squad list with a cap on numbers and minimum quotas of locally trained players, some of whom must have come through the club's own academy. A club that has risen quickly through the divisions may have little academy output at elite level, and that limits how it can fill those quota places.

The second issue is financial. UEFA's squad-cost rules limit what a club can spend on wages, transfers and agents' fees as a proportion of its revenue. An owner's willingness to spend does not override this. Spending has to be backed by income the club generates, so Champions League revenue becomes a key part of keeping the squad together.

The third issue is fixture load. The league phase adds midweek matches to a domestic calendar that already demands a lot. Clubs with smaller squads have to manage rotation without losing ground in Serie A, where league position decides whether they qualify again.

What should readers watch next?

There are three things to follow. The first is how Como manage UEFA's financial rules as their revenue grows, and whether their spending stays in line with it. The second is how the club handles squad registration across both domestic and European competition. The third is whether the comparison with Manchester United leads to wider discussion in England about how big clubs organise recruitment and coaching.

At the league level, every Italian campaign in Europe feeds into the coefficient that decides future places. That makes Como's European participation relevant to the whole of Serie A, not just to the club.

Frequently asked questions

How did Como get from Serie D to the Champions League?

The BBC reports that Como climbed from Serie D, Italy's fourth tier, to the Champions League. That meant several promotions through Serie C and Serie B into Serie A, then a high enough league finish to qualify for Europe. Each step brought higher costs and stricter licensing rules. The full timeline and the investment behind each promotion are not set out in the source material this article draws on.

Who is Como's head coach?

The BBC's report names Cesc Fabregas as a central figure in Como's rise. His appointment is part of what the BBC presents as a clear sporting project at the club. This article does not assess individual performances. It covers the structures behind the club's rise: ownership, recruitment, qualification rules and UEFA's financial regulations, all of which shape what any coach can do.

Why is Como being compared with Manchester United?

The BBC frames Como's rise as a lesson for Manchester United. The comparison works because the two clubs are so far apart in size, history and commercial income. The point is not resources but method: how clearly a club defines its playing identity, how its recruitment supports that identity, and how consistently it makes decisions over several seasons.

How do Italian clubs qualify for the Champions League?

Serie A's top finishers qualify directly. The number of places depends on Italy's UEFA coefficient, which is based on how Italian clubs have done in European competition over recent seasons. Under the current format, an extra place can also go to the associations whose clubs did best in Europe the season before. So results by all Italian clubs abroad can affect qualification at home.

What is a buy-back clause in football?

A buy-back clause lets a selling club re-sign a player later on pre-agreed terms, usually within a set period. It allows a smaller club to sign a talented player the seller does not want to lose for good. The buying club gets the player's services and possibly a share of any future value. The selling club keeps control over whether the player comes back.

Do UEFA rules limit how much Como's owners can spend?

Yes. UEFA's squad-cost rules cap spending on wages, transfers and agents' fees as a proportion of a club's revenue. An owner's personal wealth does not remove that limit, although there are rules on how owners can put equity into a club. A club that qualifies quickly has to show that its spending is backed by income it generates, including Champions League revenue.

Sources and further reading

• BBC Sport, the original report on Como's rise and the comparison with Manchester United.
• UEFA, competition regulations covering the league-phase format, squad registration and coefficient rankings.
• UEFA, club licensing and financial sustainability regulations, including squad-cost rules.
• Lega Serie A and the Italian Football Federation, rules on promotion, relegation and league structure.