The other half of the lake: discovering Como Women

The other half of the lake. While the How male is making headlines more for having transformed the lands described by Manzoni in The Betrothed into a branch of Hollywood than for his sporting results, The Como Women occupies fifth place in the women’s Serie A rankings and it is starting to attract the attention of people at work and beyond.

The project of the company, founded in 2020 by Stefano Verga, is ambitious and the management does not hide. Elena Mirandola, the CEO of FC Como Women (this is the official name of the club which is in no way linked to Como 1907) has clear ideas. «We are honored and feel privileged to be an all-female team», she tells us, «this allows us to focus 100% on the well-being of female athletes who obviously have different needs than men».

Como Women, in fact, follows its players both on and off the pitch, with great attention to nutrition and health. «We decided to have a female doctor to make the girls feel more at ease”, continues Mirandola, “we really try to do our best at 360 degrees, convinced that all the work leads to sporting, but also personal, results». To prepare the girls for what awaits them once their competitive activity is over, Como Women has a training program called Beyond with which, thanks to the support of experts, female footballers can begin to evaluate what to do “when they grow up” (also because female footballers’ salaries are far from those of their male counterparts).

Como Women encapsulates its philosophy in a slogan We are the underdog with the main character energy, «We are the underdogs with the energy of the protagonist». A truly effective synthesis that explains well how a reality that is still little known and objectively far from the clamor of clubs such as Milan, Roma and Juventus, can however count on a particular energy.

During our visit to the Sports Center of Cislago (Como Women’s training ground), which took place on the occasion of the friendly match against Olympique de Marseille which ended 3 to 1 for coach Stefano Sottili’s girls and was organized to officially present the new match shirt, we had the opportunity to speak with two of the players who make up the First Team squad: Alia Guagni and Elisa Del Estal.

«After a somewhat difficult experience at Milan, I needed to change and at Como I found the right club», explains Alia Guagni, «there is an ambitious project and the fact that it is totally feminine fascinated me». «I’m happy to be here», says the Spanish Elisa Del Estal, «this is a very serious and organized company, with important values. I really like the fact that despite there being the utmost professionalism, Como Women is truly a family.”

In recent months the club has taken significant steps towards redefining women’s football with major investments in new facilities and through the partnership with Nike, which has thus become the team’s technical sponsor. Mercury/13, the company that controls the club, has many ideas and the future promises to be full of innovations. Among these, make match day an experience that goes beyond the match. One of the projects that will soon be implemented is the meeting of the public with some female footballers, an event within the event that will certainly help the team-fan bond.

Meanwhile, here is the new shirt sponsor: WeAre8a social media ready to land in Italy. CEO Zoe Kalar is enthusiastic about the collaboration with Como Women. «I immediately fell in love with this club and the players», she explains, «the idea that a small group of women has the power to truly inspire others and change the world is what I believe in. Our platform was created to serve and support this vision.”