Como

The club was founded on 25 May 1907 as Como Foot-Ball Club, by a committee of members gathered at the Taroni bar, located in the central Via Cinque Giornate, the first headquarters of the club. In the first years after its foundation, Como played friendly matches and local tournaments, competing against teams from Milan and Switzerland. On 1 October 1911, the club took part in the inauguration of the Campo via dei Mille by playing in a friendly match, defeating Bellinzona 3–1. Como then used the ground to host their home matches for the next few years.

In 1912, after merging with the student club "Minerva", the club participated in the qualification for entry into the Prima Categoria. On 20 October, in the first round, the club was defeated 3–1 by Savona in Turin. Como was therefore registered in the Lombardy Promozione group, and played its first match on 17 November 1912 with a 5–0 win over Brescia at Campo via dei Mille. The club's first appearance in top-flight competition was in the 1913–14 Prima Categoria, after the team was invited to join, and remained there until 1922.

In 1927, Como merged with Esperia and was renamed Associazione Calcio Comense, which won the Coppa Volta in the same year, eliminating Inter 3–0 in the semi-final and beating Genoa 1–0 in the final. In the following year, the club moved their home ground to Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia, after stadium was inaugurated on 30 July 1927. Como secured their illustrious history in the 1930–31 season, as Gedeon Lukács led a triumphant promotion to Serie B, where Como finished unbeaten in both regular season and the play-offs of the Prima Divisione, scoring 90 goals in 32 matches and conceded only 24 goals. The following year, in their first experience of Serie B, the Como side comfortably avoided relegation, finishing in ninth place with a young Marco Romano as their top scorer.

World War II dramatically affected the entire Italian football movement, but Como managed to bounce back. In 1945 when there was no national championship, the club won the Torneo Benefico Lombardo (Tournament for Lombard clubs) which included Milan, Ambrosiana-Inter, Novara and other Lombard clubs. After the war, Como competed in Serie B and spent three years battling for the top spot before finally being promoted to Serie A for the first time in 1949 with Mario Varglien as their coach. Como's first experience in the top division lasted four years, where in their first year, they finished in sixth position with the same points as Torino in fifth. In the following seasons, Como aroused sympathy throughout the peninsula for their choice to field only Italian players in their third year in Serie A. The club also became the sole leader of Serie A for the first time in its history when on 23 September 1951 after the third day of the 1951–52 Serie A season, one point ahead of Inter, Juventus, Milan and Napoli.

In the early 1960s, Como's campaign in the second division had to be stopped following the "Bessi case", a case that began at the start of the 1962–63 Serie B season when the club fielded defender Paolo Bessi for five matches, who had just been bought from Tau Altopascio without knowing that the player was not yet finished serving the disqualification sentence imposed on him by the Tuscany Regional Committee of the Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. After saving themselves on the pitch, Como were punished with five default defeats which saw them relegated to Serie C. In their first year of relegation to Serie C, the club finished third in Group A after a squad completely rejuvenated and renewed by coach Vinicio Viani, with Bruno Ballarini and Giovanni Invernizzi remaining the club's mainstays. After four years in Serie C, promotion finally came in the 1967–68 season when the team finished top of Group A under coach Franco Viviani and still led by historic captain Bruno Ballarini, Como's record appearance holder in the competitive matches.

In the 1973–74 season, following the arrival of Giuseppe Marchioro as coach, Como again fought for promotion with a solid defense of Antonio Rigamonti and Vito Callioni, but the team could only finish in a fourth place. The following season, still managed by Marchioro and with the contribution of rising star Marco Tardelli, a second promotion to Serie A arrived, but the team lasted only a season before being relegated back to Serie B. After being relegated to Serie C1 in 1978, Como were once again coached by Marchioro supported by sporting director Lamberti, immediately gaining two consecutive promotions by winning Serie C1 in 1978–79 season season and Serie B in 1979–80 season with Adriano Lombardi as their best player. They then remained in Serie A for two seasons.

Como managed another promotion to the top flight in 1984, with a five-year stint in Serie A proving the club's most successful period. The strikeforce of Dan Corneliusson and Stefano Borgonovo oversaw a 9th-place finish in 1986, which was repeated the following year with far fewer goals scored. The club's defence, led by hard man Pasquale Bruno, proved more than up to the task. Two consecutive relegations to C1 in the 1990s led to a poor decade for Como, who found themselves floating for most of the 1990s in Serie C1. The only exception to those poor years was when they managed to gain promotion to Serie B in the 1994–95 season. Como also won the 1996–97 Coppa Italia Serie C, beating Nocerina in the two-legged final with an aggregate score of 4–2.

The 21st century saw Como experience a brief revival. Promotion to Serie B in 2001 was marred by an appallingly violent incident in a game against Modena, resulting in captain Massimiliano Ferrigno being handed a three-year ban. They nonetheless managed promotion to Serie A in the 2002–03 season; however, the return to Serie A proved a major disappointment with the side in the bottom two all season, and a ban on games at the Sinigaglia after crowd violence. Consecutive relegations have caused financial difficulties; in December 2004 the club was declared bankrupted. No investor was successful to take over the club as the bid from Enrico Preziosi was denied, and thus the company Calcio Como S.p.A. was liquidated. Due to FIGC regulation, a new entity, which was named Calcio Como S.r.l., was allowed to admit into 2005–06 Serie D. The liquidator also found former chairman Preziosi had transferred some assets such as the contracts of the players to his new club Genoa, causing the financial failure in Como. In the 2007–08 season, Como won the Girone B of Serie D by finishing top of the group, and earned promotion to the fourth-tier, Lega Pro Seconda Divisione the following season. In this season, the club also won the Coppa Italia Serie D after beating Colligiana with an aggregate score of 3–1 in the two-legged final. In 2009, Como finally returned to the third-tier Lega Pro Prima Divisione, by winning the promotion play-off after defeating Rodengo Saiano with 1–1 aggregate and Alessandria with 4–1 aggregate. In 2015, Como finished fourth in the third-tier. They qualified for the promotion play-offs and earned promotion to Serie B after beating Bassano Virtus with an aggregate score of 2–0 in the two-legged final. They were relegated back down to Lega Pro the following season.

New economic problems arose in the 2016–17 season, forcing the club to be declared out of business and put on auction. At the fourth auction, the assets of the club were acquired by Akosua Puni Essien, wife of the Ghanaian footballer Michael Essien and which is alson the first foreign businesswoman in Italian football (through her company F.C. Como S.r.l.). The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) rejected the application of F.C. Como as Como's successor in 2017–18 Serie C, as the club did not fulfill all the criteria in the Article 52 of N.O.I.F. At the start of season, another company, which was named Como 1907 S.r.l., was admitted to 2017–18 Serie D instead, excising another sub-clause of the Article 52.

In 2019, the club was acquired by Indonesian company Djarum Group led by Robert Budi Hartono and Michael Bambang Hartono, after the club won the Girone B of 2018–19 Serie D. Como returned to professional football that year under the ownership of the world's richest man and in Italy according to Forbes, who as of 2022, earns €4 million per hour. Since 2021, the club is sponsored by Djarum's subsidiary, Mola until 2024. In 2021, former Chelsea player Dennis Wise was appointed CEO of the club after previously playing an advisory role since 2019. In the 2021–22 season, former club player Giacomo Gattuso was appointed as coach and managed to survive the Serie B relegation zone by finishing in thirteenth position, the club's best result in the last twenty years in the second division. That result was repeated in the 2022–23 season, with the club finishing the season in thirteenth place once again under Moreno Longo, who replaced Gattuso who had to leave the club due to personal reasons midway through the season. In August 2022, former Arsenal and Barcelona player, Cesc Fàbregas arrived as a minority stakeholder, while also playing for the club as a player. Another minority stakeholder is a French football legend, Thierry Henry who also joined later in the month.

In the 2023–24 season, the club had a good start in Serie B under Longo and rose to the top of the table, but on 13 November the club decided to sack the coach and Cesc Fàbregas stepped in as caretaker manager who did not yet have the UEFA Pro License. After the exemption granted to him expired, on 20 December Como appointed Welshman Osian Roberts as head coach, with Fàbregas being demoted as his assistant. Lariani finished the season in second place, earning them a return to Serie A for the following season after a 21-year absence from the top flight of Italian football. Promotion was secured on the final matchday of the season on 10 May 2024, against Cosenza which ended 1–1, making the club finish as runners-up above Venezia with a three-point lead. It is unclear whether Como, which became the richest club in Serie A, will be able to play their home matches at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia in 2024–25 season as the venue does not meet Serie A stadium requirements.