Werner Wenning, chair of the shareholders committee at Bayer 04, believes the club is in a good position: "I'm very happy that Fernando Carro will continue his successful work for Bayer 04 Leverkusen over the long term. He has been outstanding in representing the club at home and abroad. His voice has increasing weight and that also does Bayer 04 good."
The Werkself have qualified for European competitions in all of the four years since Carro took up his post. The team under head coach Gerardo Seoane have achieved the best finish in six years with third place in the Bundesliga ensuring direct qualification for the Champions League.
At the Werkself, Carro has primarily promoted the development and professionalism of the football company with a staff of now around 300. In addition, he has worked with the retiring sporting managing director Rudi Völler and his successor Simon Rolfes in the transition of responsibilities on the footballing side.
The 57-year-old has represented Bayer 04 as a board member on the European Club Association (ECA) since 2021. Carro is also involved with various UEFA working parties – including the committee that prepared the decisions around Champions League reform 2024.
Fernando Carro: "The emotional and dynamic environment of football means a lot to me just as much as the professional parameters offered at Bayer 04. We have already been able to achieve much together. Now it is all about making the maximum of the solid foundations and us being able to continue to improve. We are pursuing ambitious targets in all areas of our organisation. We want a modern and innovative club that is, above all, successful on the pitch."
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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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of the Bayer 04 women's 1-2 loss against VfL Wolfsburg on the 2nd matchday of the Google Pixel Women's Bundesliga 2026/27.
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Bayer 04’s eight opponents in the group stage of the 2026/27 UEFA Europa League have been confirmed. At the draw on Friday 28 August held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the Werkself were drawn against two opponents from each of the four pots. There are a total of four home and four away matches. Read on for details of opponents and fixture dates.
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In the 3-2 defeat at Bundesliga newcomers SV 07 Elversberg, the Werkself found the back of the net in the closing stages and, with a bit of luck, could still have equalised. “Today, our play wasn’t good enough, particularly when it came to the basics,” said head coach Carles Martínez. Like the boss, Ibrahim Maza also wants to learn from the match and look ahead: “Next week, people should be able to see from the very first minute that we want it more than our opponents.” The Werkself review on the Bundesliga opener in 2026/27.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 2-3 loss at SV 07 Elversberg on Matchday 1 of the 2026/27 Bundesliga season...
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