Como executives give up Champions League seats for fans born before 1950

Como president Mirwan Suwarso and several club directors will give up their seats for the Serie A side’s first-ever Champions League match, donating the tickets to supporters born in 1950 or earlier who missed out in the sell-out ballot for Thursday’s home fixture against RB Leipzig.

The gesture comes as Como prepare for a milestone that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. The club, which declared bankruptcy twice in the last two decades, has earned promotion three times in six years, returned to Serie A in 2024 after a 21-year absence, and then finished fourth under manager Cesc Fabregas in 2025-26 to qualify for European football’s premier competition for the first time in its 119-year history.

Suwarso announced the decision on Instagram, explaining the reasoning behind choosing fans born before 1951 as the beneficiaries. “With the reduced capacity and the limited number of tickets available, unfortunately we cannot accommodate everyone who would have liked to be there,” he wrote. “However, some club executives and I have decided to give up our seats for this match. We want those seats to be allocated to supporters who have waited the longest — fans born in 1950 or earlier, who have followed Como through every division and every era. We will be honoured to give up our seat for them.”

Capacity at Como’s Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, which holds around 12,000 supporters, has been reduced by a further 1,000 for Champions League fixtures after UEFA deemed one section of seats non-compliant with its broadcasting and operational regulations. The stadium underwent significant renovations over the summer to meet UEFA’s requirements for the competition.

The reduced allocation made an already scarce ticket supply even tighter, with all available seats selling out ahead of the Leipzig clash. Suwarso has been president of the club since 2019, overseeing much of the dramatic turnaround in fortunes.

Como’s league-phase schedule also includes fixtures against Feyenoord, Manchester United, Lens, AEK Athens, Real Betis, Paris Saint-Germain, and Barcelona.