Schade – as planned – will step down having reached retirement age and, at the same time, become a member of the Shareholders Committee at Bayer 04. Also on 1 July, Rudi Völler (58) will take over the newly created position of executive director of sport. His successor as sporting director will be the current sporting manager Jonas Boldt (36).
"Under the leadership of Michael Schade, Bayer 04 have made very good progress over the past five years. The team has qualified for the Champions League four times and all organisational and financial targets have been completely fulfilled," said Werner Wenning, chair of the Bundesliga club supervisory committee. "Michael Schade moulded the organisation to meet future demands, continued to improve processes and structures, significantly drive internationalisation and digitalisation and continued to increase income from marketing activities. On behalf of the Shareholders Committee, I'd like to thank Michael Schade very much for all his work."
The new man in charge of the club management, Fernando Carro, is an internationally experienced top manager. "Mr Carro has continually demonstrated his extraordinary leadership and management qualities in a number of top positions at home and abroad. Together with the sporting expertise in our management group, which is further strengthened by these organisational changes, we are well placed to meet the challenges of the next few years," said Wenning.
Fernando Carro grew up in Barcelona and he went to the German School where he completed his A-levels in 1982. After training to be an industrial management assistant and attending the University of Karlsruhe to study Business and Engineering, he moved on to Bertelsmann AG in Gütersloh, where he was promoted to a number of management and board positions in the following years with increasing levels of responsibility. In 2015 he was appointed chairman of the board at the service company Arvato and and was called up to the group board at Bertelsmann Management SE.
The future CEO of Bayer 04 is married and has three children. In addition to his mother tongue Spanish, he also speaks fluent German and English. "I'm really looking forward to this exciting challenge where I can combine my passion for football with my professional experience as a manager. It's a dream come true for me," said Carro. "Bayer 04 are a great team with a lot of potential. Here at the club we will do all we can to be successful in the future and achieve our ambitious targets."
Calling all Werkself fans: The new Farbenstadt range is available now from the Bayer 04 online shop and the Fanwelt. This includes new T-shirts made of 100% organic cotton, zip-up hoodies and jogging bottoms in five different summer colours.
Show moreBayer 04 new signing Carlotta Wamser has been called up to the Germany squad for the Women's EURO 2025 finals in Switzerland. For the 21-year-old winger, who is set to join Bayer 04 from Eintracht Frankfurt for next season, it is the first participation in a big international tournament.
Show moreFollowing the end of the season for Bayer 04, a lot of Werkself players are currently on the road with their national teams. The Leverkusen players are involved in the semi-finals of the UEFA Nations League, qualifiers for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and international friendlies. Read on for the latest news on international fixtures involving Werkself players.
Show moreBayer 04 Leverkusen will be the first Bundesliga team to hold their pre-season training camp in South America. The 2024 Bundesliga and DFB Cup winners will be in Rio de Janeiro from 14 to 24 July. Under the motto "Esquenta!" ("warm up"), the Werkself will prepare for the new campaign at the training facility of Flamengo Rio de Janeiro, one of the most renowned and largest clubs in South America.
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