Michael Essien is still a player, while his wife is a football club owner
The wife of former Ghana midfielder Michael Essien has bought Italian third tier team Como, the club has revealed.
Akosua Puni Essien reportedly paid 237,000 euros (£206,000) at an auction for the bankrupt club.
“The new owner and her team wish to make both the first team and the youth team grow,” the club said.
“They will put their efforts into creating conditions to take the team back to Serie B and to develop the club’s young talents.”
Puni Essien describes herself as a “businesswoman, consultant, philanthropist and mother of three lovely kids” on her Twitter feed.
Former Chelsea and Real Madrid star Michael Essien, 34, played for Greek club Panathinaikos last season and joined Indonesia’s Persib Bandung on Monday.
Como have had several short stints in Serie A, the longest being from 1984 to 1989 and the most recent in 2002-03 when they were relegated after one season.
They were relegated to the fifth tier in 2005 after a previous bankruptcy.