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."
Bayer 04 midfielder Ibrahim Maza was honoured in Paris in the Best Algerian Young Player category at the Fennec d'Or awards for the Algerian Footballer of the Year, organised for the first time by the football journal La Gazette du Fennec. "It's an honour for me," said the 19-year-old, delighted with the award.
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On the back of two wins within four days, Bayer 04 Women round off an intensive Bundesliga week in the Black Forest. Roberto Pätzold's side have the chance to move back up to third place against SC Freiburg in the final fixture of Matchday 10 on Monday (18:00 CET) and draw level on points with second-placed VfL Wolfsburg.
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The last international break of this calendar year features the final qualifying matches for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico. An overview of who's playing where and when from a Leverkusen point of view.
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Never before have Bayer 04 led 4-0 so early in the Bundesliga, never before have they won a Bundesliga home match by a higher margin. Leverkusen's exhibition display against 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 produced many stories, records and debuts. While Kasper Hjulmand's side celebrated the rousing performance properly with the fans, Jonas Hofmann and Co aren't losing focus: "We have to be careful that we don't just praise ourselves. The games come thick and fast again after the international break." The Werkself Review has all the reaction and analysis of the 6-0 victory at the BayArena.
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