The 55-year-old was on the main stage in the afternoon alongside Axel Hellmann (board member at Eintracht Frankfurt), Oliver Leki (board member at SC Freiburg) and Bernd Hoffmann (board member at Hamburger SV).
One of the key issues in the lively discussion with the Bundesliga bosses was the possible reform of the UEFA Champions League from 2024/25. For quite some time there has been talk and ideas, above all from Italy and Spain, about serious changes, at least in part. Carro: “You can talk about possible changes within the current structure in a number of areas and discuss it rationally but one thing has to be clear: Qualification for the Champions League can only come via national leagues.” A position that not only finds unanimity amongst those present at the conference but also with the whole of the DFL at the moment.
The chairman of the board at Bayer 04 has been a member of the UEFA Club Competitions Committee since September of last year. The committee reports to the executive committee and plays an important role in terms of the organisation of the European club competitions as well as the distribution of income from TV rights. The possible reform of the Champions League from 2024 is seen as one of the most important tasks facing the sports business. Carro is determined to speak out in a constructive manner for the Bundesliga: “We will have to see what is appropriate given the very different approaches and act responsibly to achieve a good result. A very complex task that I am looking forward to, nevertheless, and I’m determined to play my part.”
Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes was on the stage yesterday. The 38-year-old was initially a guest at the ‘kicker meets DAZN’ podcast with the presenters Benni Zander and Alex Schlüter (to be broadcast on Monday). Rolfes was then involved in a discussion with Marc Kosicke, Jürgen Klopp’s agent, and others, on the relationship between players, agents and clubs.
Attacking midfielder Paulina Bartz is leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen for good on a permanent move to Hamburger SV in the Google Pixel Women’s Bundesliga. The 21-year-old, who was on loan to the newly promoted side in the winter, originally had a contract to 2027.
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The Bayer 04 Football School opened in 2007 – now this successful programme is getting a new name and a new logo: with immediate effect, the Bayer 04 Football School powered by BarmeniaGothaer is becoming the Bayer 04 Football Academy powered by BarmeniaGothaer.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personal Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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The sustainable use of the BayArena seats removed as part of the current stadium upgrade has taken on a new dimension: Following on from numerous Bayer 04 fans receiving their ‘Undefeated Champions seats’ and various clubs and community organisations from Leverkusen and the wider region having collected the dismantled seats, Blau-Gelbe Kreuz e.V. also made their way to the BayArena recently. The German-Ukrainian aid organisation took away around 2,100 seats; in Ukraine, these will be used to upgrade the sports infrastructure of two clubs.
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