Cesc Fàbregas Named Coach of the Year in Italian Football
Cesc Fàbregas walked onto the Gran Gala del Calcio stage as the coach of a “small reality.” He walked off as Coach of the Year in Italian football.
In a room dominated by giants, it was the man leading Como who took one of the night’s most coveted prizes, rewarded for a season of daring ideas and meticulous work on the training ground. Inter collected Club of the Year, Federico Dimarco was named Player of the Year, but the spotlight cut sharply to the 37-year-old Spaniard when his name was read out.
The moment carried extra weight. Roberto Mancini, head coach of the Italy national team, handed him the trophy in person. One serial winner recognising another coach rapidly building his own reputation.
Fàbregas has not tried to disguise the scale of the achievement for a club of Como’s size, nor the identity of the team he is building. He spoke with pride about a group defined by youth and courage on the ball, about a side encouraged to play with technical bravery rather than fear.
“We made history with very young lads,” he told the audience, a line that summed up both the risk and the reward of his approach. The message that followed was clear: this is only the beginning. “Now we want to try to grow even further.”
His work has already turned heads across Europe. Proactive tactics, front-foot football, and a clear attacking identity have pushed Fàbregas into the conversation as one of the continent’s most promising young managers. The award simply puts an official seal on what many inside the game had already noticed.
Yet he has been careful not to let the story run away from him. As Como’s rise has drawn more attention, Fàbregas has consistently tried to slow the narrative down, to keep feet on the ground while expectations soar.
“We are Como, a small reality, we go slowly,” he said, leaning again on that contrast between the scale of the club and the ambition of its football. Step by step. Year by year. No shortcuts.
He knows the pressure will only increase. He welcomes it. “We must go step by step, every year the pressure rises and it is a pleasure. We take the pressure naturally.” There was no bravado in that line, just a coach who understands that scrutiny is the price of progress.
“This award pleases me, it is an honour to be here,” he added, before steering the conversation back to what matters most to him: sustainable development, not a fleeting high. The trophy may glitter, but for Fàbregas it is another piece in a longer project, not the destination.
The gala lights will fade quickly. The grind of the domestic campaign will not. His attention now returns to Como’s league fixtures, to training sessions where those “very young lads” are asked to refine an attacking style that refuses to bend to the occasion or the opponent.
Como remain a modest club in a demanding league, but with a Coach of the Year on the touchline and a clear identity taking root, the question lingers over Italy and beyond: just how far can this “small reality” grow if they keep taking those steps, one season at a time?
