Not long ago, the idea of Como challenging for the Serie A title would have sounded like the sort of story Italian football produces once every few decades. Now it is a question being asked seriously. Cesc Fabregas' side finished fourth last season, qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club's history and have started the new campaign unbeaten. Then came another statement: a 2-1 victory over Napoli at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Two games obviously do not make a title challenge. Como have four points rather than six and Inter, Milan, Juventus and Lazio have all started with consecutive wins. But this is no longer a newly promoted side enjoying a good spell or an ambitious project waiting to see how far it can go. Como have established themselves near the top of Italian football, kept their most important player and continued to invest in a squad built specifically for Fabregas. Even the numbers have started taking them seriously. Before the season began, the Opta supercomputer gave Como a 13.6% chance of winning Serie A — higher than Roma's 12.7%.
From Serie B to the Champions League
The speed of Como's rise makes it easy to mistake it for a miracle. They were playing in Serie B only a few years ago, returned to Serie A under Fabregas and initially attracted attention as much for the project around the club as for the football itself. The wealthy ownership, the location, the famous coach and the willingness to spend created an unusual amount of interest for a newly promoted team.
What happened on the pitch soon became more important. Fabregas did not build Como to survive. He wanted possession, control and a team comfortable taking risks with the ball, even against stronger opposition. There were difficult periods, as expected, but the club continued recruiting players who suited that approach rather than abandoning it when results became uncomfortable. By last season, the development was impossible to ignore. Como finished fourth and secured Champions League football for the first time in their history.
That achievement changed expectations. Qualifying for Europe can sometimes represent the peak for a club of Como's size, followed by the inevitable breakup of the team that got there. Instead, they have largely managed to keep the project together. Fabregas remains in charge and, crucially, Nico Paz is still at the club. Real Madrid, Como and the player reached an agreement during the summer for the Argentine to stay for another season, with Madrid retaining an option to bring him back in 2027.
Nico Paz is the star, but Como are much more than Nico Paz
Keeping Paz was arguably Como's most important piece of business. At 21, the Argentina international has developed from an exciting Real Madrid academy product into one of Serie A's outstanding young players. His ability to receive between the lines, carry the ball through midfield and create chances gives Fabregas something that cannot easily be replaced, and his importance is only likely to grow after Lionel Messi's retirement from international football put even more attention on Argentina's next generation.
But reducing Como to Nico Paz would miss the point. Maximo Perrone gives them intelligence and control deeper in midfield, while Martin Baturina offers another source of creativity. Tasos Douvikas provides a more direct threat in attack, and the squad contains a collection of young players who were recruited before their value reached the level associated with established Champions League footballers. Como have not tried to imitate Inter, Juventus or Milan by signing older stars on enormous contracts. Their recruitment has been based largely around players whose best years should still be ahead of them.
The win in Naples offered a useful example of why that matters. Baturina scored the opening goal against Napoli before Rasmus Hojlund equalised, and Douvikas eventually produced the winner. Como did not need Paz to score twice or create everything themselves. They went to the home of one of Italy's strongest teams and found different ways to hurt them. That is a much healthier basis for a long season than relying on one exceptional player.
Fabregas may still be Como's biggest advantage
Players inevitably dominate the discussion, but the strongest argument for taking Como seriously remains their coach. Fabregas has now had enough time to build something recognisable rather than simply impose a few fashionable ideas on a squad assembled by somebody else. Como know what they want to do with the ball, how they want to progress through midfield and where their attacking players are supposed to receive it.
That continuity matters in a league where several major clubs have gone through significant changes. Milan began a new cycle under Ruben Amorim this summer, Napoli appointed Massimiliano Allegri, while other contenders have also changed important parts of their squads. Como do not have the biggest names or the deepest squad in Italy, but they enter the season knowing exactly what they are trying to be.
Fabregas also has something he did not possess when Como first arrived in Serie A: evidence that his ideas work. The fourth-place finish removed the novelty factor. Opponents have had time to study Como, adjust to their football and treat them seriously, yet the results have continued. Winning away at Napoli so early in the new campaign strengthens the argument that last season was not simply a perfect combination of momentum and surprise.
So, can they really win it?
This is where some perspective is necessary. A 13.6% probability is significant, particularly for Como, but it still means Opta's simulations produced another champion more than 86% of the time. Inter are defending champions and remain the team everyone has to catch. Juventus, Milan, Napoli and Roma have greater resources, more experience of title races and squads built to cope with injuries and fixture congestion.
For Como, that last issue could become decisive. Champions League qualification is a landmark achievement, but it also changes the demands on the squad completely. Fabregas now has to manage Serie A matches around European nights, travel and a level of physical and mental intensity his team did not face last season. A squad that looks deep enough in August can feel very different after a run of three games in eight days in November.
There is also the pressure of expectation. Como spent much of their rise with little to lose. Promotion was an achievement, survival was the initial target and reaching Europe was beyond what almost anyone could reasonably have demanded. A title race is different. Every dropped point becomes significant, opponents approach matches differently and the final months of a season test qualities that cannot really be measured in August.
That is why Inter and the traditional powers remain safer choices. They have been through these situations before. Como have not. But there is a considerable difference between saying Como are favourites and saying they are genuine contenders. The first would be difficult to defend; the second no longer is.
The most encouraging part for Como is that they do not need to win Serie A for this season to represent another major step forward. Establishing themselves as a Champions League club would already confirm that their rise has become something more permanent. Yet fourth place last season, keeping Fabregas and Paz, another summer of investment and now a win away at Napoli have shifted the conversation again.
A couple of years ago, Como winning the Scudetto belonged in the realm of fantasy. Today, Opta gives them a better than one-in-eight chance. They are still outsiders, and they should be. But asking whether Cesc Fabregas can take Como all the way no longer sounds ridiculous.
Published by Patrick Jane
02.09.2026