Cesc Fabregas, the man who once threaded passes through Premier League defenses like they were made of tissue paper, has added a new line to his already absurd CV. The former Arsenal, Barcelona, and Chelsea midfielder was named Serie A Coach of the Year for the 2025-26 season at the Gran Galà del Calcio AIC ceremony held at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala on September 2.
The award recognizes what might be one of the most remarkable coaching stories in recent Italian football history. Under Fabregas, Como 1907 finished fourth in Serie A, securing the club’s first ever qualification for the UEFA Champions League.
From promotion to Europe’s top table
The numbers tell a story that borders on the absurd. Como finished 10th in Serie A during the 2024-25 season, a respectable result for a club that had only returned to the top flight in May 2024. One season later, they climbed to fourth, a 27-point improvement that left the rest of Italian football scrambling for explanations.
Fabregas, who retired from playing with Como in the summer of 2023 before transitioning into coaching, had been building something since his days as interim manager during the club’s promotion campaign. The patience of Como’s ownership, headlined by Indonesian billionaire Robert Budi Hartono, appears to have paid off in a way that even the most optimistic projections wouldn’t have predicted.
