Carro used the time for meetings with senior representatives of North and South American sports business, visited the stands of La Liga and Serie A and also mixed among the 2,000 participants as a passionate networker at the congress centre of the rainy city.
The senior conversational partners of the Spaniard included Carlos Sanchez, managing director of Fox Deportes, Italy's Serie A boss Luigi di Servio plus Julie Uhrmann, who as the CEO of Angel City FC Is currently responsible for probably the most exciting women's football project in the USA founded by stars such as Natalie Portman and Serena Williams. At the Congress there was also a meeting with Italy's World Cup winner and Serie A ambassador Alessandro Del Piero that included a presentation of a shirt.
"These trips are demanding," said Carro about the short journey to the south-east coast of the USA. "But it's important to think outside the box. At these events, you get a good insight into the global football market and a better feeling for the demands on a contemporary and successful league or club management."
Carro, a keen advocate for a strong global presence for German clubs, also gained important thoughts about the future of the Bundesliga: "The Bundesliga continues to be one of the top leagues in the world. It offers quality, spectacle and stadium atmosphere that is unequalled. The Bundesliga does not have to hide from anyone as the number two in terms of worldwide spectator statistics. But this status quo is not set in stone. Our competitors are not asleep."
Carro, a member of the supervisory committee of the DFL subsidiary Bundesliga International, sees a key role for the future competitiveness of Germany's top flight with the crucial input from a strategic partner at the DFL general meeting on 11 December: "If the Bundesliga experience is to remain of such high quality as it was before then we have to face up to global competition, be on the ball and innovative, invest smartly in our product and, above all, be brave at the right points and open to new ideas. But that requires the means, resources and more expertise. A strategic partner would be enormously important for the future viability of the Bundesliga."
Carro was joined on the trip to the USA by communications director Holger Tromp as well as Leonardo Giammarioli, the new head of internationalisation at Bayer 04. The small Leverkusen delegation was supported by the Mexican PR agency Extreme PR. The Bayer 04 boss fulfilled interview requests from the broadcasters TUDN (rights holder for the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League in the USA) and CBS Sports plus the US business portal Sportico.
There won’t just be plenty of excitement on the pitch as Bayer 04 host Borussia Dortmund at the BayArena at 18:30 CET on Saturday. Outside the stadium there will be collection points for food donations to the Leverkusen Foodbank, which will also benefit from the profits of a jersey raffle in the Fanwelt afterwards. There will also be a minute’s silence before kick-off following the passing of long-time Werkself player Dieter Herzog, before two fan clubs are honoured for their decades-long support at half-time and fans receive a talk about Orange Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Here’s all you need to know ahead of the game in our matchday news.
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Bayer 04 go into the first of two successive clashes with Borussia Dortmund boosted by their Champions League win at Manchester City. Ahead of the Bundesliga top match on Saturday, 29 November (kick-off: 18:30 CET), coach Kasper Hjulmand spoke about the tight schedule, BVB's strengths and returning squad members.
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Borussia Dortmund are doing very well in terms of points and results in the Bundesliga, the DFB Pokal and the UEFA Champions League. BVB have only suffered two defeats to date this term. Now coach Niko Kovac's team are away to the Werkself on Saturday night, 29 November (kick-off: 18:30 CET) in the top match on Bundesliga matchday 12. The two teams meet again three days later in the DFB Pokal Round of 16 tie in Dortmund. Two very competitive encounters are on the cards. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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The Bayer 04 Women clcoked up a 3-2 win in a friendly against Twente Enschede on Thursday afternoon in the last international break of 2025. In drizzle, Lilla Turanyi (16’), Kristin Kögel (65’) and Paulina Bartz (69’) scored the goals for the Werkself against the Dutch Eredivisie Vrouwen leaders, who are still unbeaten in the league.
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