Cesc Fabregas Named Coach of the Year for Como's Rise

Cesc Fabregas walked onto the Gran Gala del Calcio stage as the young coach of a “small reality.” He walked off as Coach of the Year in Italian football.

The Como head coach, still only 37, beat a field of established managers to claim one of the most coveted individual prizes in the Italian game, a recognition of the bold, front-foot football that has turned his team into one of the most intriguing stories in Serie A.

Roberto Mancini, the Italy national team head coach, handed Fabregas the trophy in a symbolic passing of the torch: one of the great playmakers of his generation now being acknowledged as one of Europe’s most promising tacticians.

On a night dominated by Inter’s coronation as Club of the Year and Federico Dimarco’s award as Player of the Year, Fabregas carved out his own space in the spotlight. His work at Como, a club that not long ago sat well outside the elite conversation, has forced the rest of Italy to pay attention.

He made sure the credit went straight back to his dressing room.

“We made history with very young lads,” Fabregas said from the stage, a line that summed up both the scale of the achievement and the identity of his project. His Como side has been built on youthful energy and technical bravery, a team encouraged to play, to take risks, to keep the ball rather than hide from it.

“Now we want to try to grow even further,” he added. The ambition is clear. So is the method.

Fabregas’ proactive approach has drawn widespread praise across the continent. His teams press, they pass, they commit numbers forward. This is not a coach clinging to safety; it is a former midfield maestro translating his vision of the game from the pitch to the touchline.

Yet amid the applause, he kept returning to one word: patience.

“We are Como, a small reality, we go slowly,” he reminded everyone. It was a deliberate grounding of expectations at a time when each win, each clever performance, nudges the club higher in the public imagination.

“We must go step by step, every year the pressure rises and it is a pleasure. We take the pressure naturally.”

That line revealed plenty. The pressure is no longer an unwelcome burden for Como. It is a marker of progress, a sign that people now expect something from a club that once slipped under the radar.

“This award pleases me, it is an honour to be here,” Fabregas said, before circling back to what truly drives him: sustainable development, a steady climb rather than a reckless sprint. The trophy, for him, is a milestone, not a finish line.

The ceremony lights will fade quickly. The grind of the domestic campaign will not. Fabregas now returns to the training ground, where the focus shifts back to details: positioning, pressing triggers, the timing of a run from midfield.

He remains intent on sharpening Como’s attacking identity in Serie A, refusing to let the team’s courage on the ball be dulled by rising stakes. The plan is simple, even if the execution is anything but: keep playing, keep growing, one rung at a time.

Como’s coach of the year walks back into the league schedule with a trophy in his hands, a young squad at his back, and a clear message in his head.

Step by step, yes — but always forward.