Fernando Carro has been CEO at Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH since 1 July 2018. The Spaniard completed his Abitur exams at the German School in Barcelona. That was followed by training as an industrial management assistance at BASF in Spain and a Master of Business and Engineering course at the University of Karlsruhe. During that time he was involved in the student organisation AIESEC in Venezuela and Germany. From 1990 to 1991 he was chairman of the board in Germany and then for two years president of AIESEC International.
After completing his studies, Carro joined Bertelsmann AG in Gütersloh. He proved to be successful at the international company in different positions over many years. He was in senior management in both the media and educational sections at Bertelsmann. Most recently, Carro was CEO at Bertelsmann subsidiary Arvato, a service company with some 70,000 employees, and he also represented Arvato as a member of the Bertelsmann SE board.
Carro has been interested in sport, and football in particular, since early childhood. For many years, the passionate tennis fan was a member at FC Barcelona but his season ticket for the legendary Camp Nou stadium will not be used as often now he has taken up his leading position at Bayer 04. 'Bayer instead of Barca' - that is now the maxim for Carro, who also worked as a freelance sports journalist for different newspapers in Spain, Austria and Germany at the start of the 1980s. Combining enthusiasm for football with economic expertise and establishing Bayer 04 at the top of German football is the target for Carro, who sees a professional dream come true in taking up his post at the Werkself.
Date of birth: 27 July 1964
Place of birth: Barcelona
Family: Married, three children
For the first time this year, the city of Leverkusen has awarded the Sports Youth Volunteer prize, which is aimed at particularly committed young volunteers in sport. The award ceremony took place on Tuesday evening as part of the city’s sports awards ceremony at Schloss Morsbroich. Bayer 04 donated the prize money of €500, with CEO Fernando Carro presenting the symbolic cheque to this year's winner Gianna Ingber and also inviting her to a Werkself home game at the BayArena.
Show moreIt's the end of 2024, a historic year for Bayer 04 that will go down in history. In a double interview with bayer04.de, CEO Fernando Carro and managing director for sport Simon Rolfes describe their most special moment of this year, what they experienced personally on 14 April 2024, how they sense a different perception of Bayer 04 abroad now and the key points of their vision of the future for the club.
Show moreAn exceptional honour for the Werkself: Bayer 04 were nominated in three categories in the 68th edition of the prestigious Ballon d'Or award for the first time in the club's history on Monday night, 28 October.
Show moreFernando Carro has been named 'Sport Business Player of the Year' by media and marketing trade magazine HORIZONT. The Bayer 04 CEO received the award personally at the Sport Business Leaders Awards 2024 at the Germania rowing club in Frankfurt.
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