Although it took 24 years, Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has always wanted to be a sporting director.
Carro, 60, Spanish by birth but German by adoption, was an executive at the billionaire-controlled Bertlesmann media giant in Gütersloh. The Mohn family. There, he rose through the ranks rather quickly by his own account. Carro said he stepped into a management role just five months into his tenure before moving on to his dream job as a general manager of a professional soccer team.
“I always had a goal to end up in sports,” Carro said luck In an interview at the New York office of the Bundesliga, the German soccer league. “Headhunters were offering me jobs all the time, and I told them: ‘No, I’m only interested in sports.’ (Then) they were looking for the general manager of Bayer Leverkusen. And I said: ‘This, I’m interested'”.
Carro’s time as Bayer Leverkusen’s CEO, that is fully owned Owned by pharmaceutical giant Bayer, it has been the most successful period in the club’s history. Last season Bayer Leverkusen won their first league title, for a club that was always the bridesmaid but never the bride. The victory itself was just as important how it happened Bayer Leverkusen knocked off reigning German champions Bayern Munich. 11 years in a row. And they did it without losing a game, going Unbeaten in 34 games.
Bayer Leverkusen fans had a long history of coming within inches of glory. Finished as Bundesliga runners-up without taking home a five-time winners’ medal. In 2002, he had the infamous distinction of finishing second in the Bundesliga, the German Cup and the final of the Champions League (Europe’s top club competition). That brought three silver medals in 11 days.
This reputation earned Bayer Leverkusen the unflattering nickname of Bayer Neverkus, which explains itself.
Despite the club’s recent success, Carro is confident of where he stands in the European football pecking order.
“The top 10 is difficult, although in terms of the sport, we could (couldn’t) achieve it in terms of brand, or importance to a player,” Carro said.
The the biggest clubs in the world Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Barcelona of Spain, Manchester City of England or Paris Saint-Germain of the French capital will always have a level of global appeal for players, fans and sponsors that is almost unattainable.
In 2023, Bayer Leverkusen earned $58 million, a fraction of what clubs at the top of European football earn. For example, Manchester City won that same year 898 million dollars dollars, 15 times more than what Bayer Leverkusen did. Real Madrid’s income increased 1 billion dollars.
When Carro took his first job in 2018, he relied on his corporate experience Bertelsmann. In his last role there he oversaw 70,000 employees as CEO of subsidiary Arvato.
“I’m sure a football club has to be run like a business because you need a long-term vision,” Carro said. “You need a strategy that goes beyond the short-term impacts you have. You have to have a long-term plan.’
One of the first things Carro did was to change the staff.
“I always look to the leadership team,” Carro said. “It’s very rare that things don’t change. Sometimes I change one, two, three people.’
Carro said he shook up the marketing, sales and communications department in his early days. According to Carro, he made the “best and most important decision” to appoint Simon Rolfes as sports director, the equivalent of an American sports director. Rolfes would go on to build the title-winning team, recruiting unknown players from around the world and in 2022. recruitment Legendary Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso as a coach Carro knew that although he was an experienced manager, he needed a football expert to manage matters on the pitch.
“The sports part is essential. So I knew that with my background, I needed someone to be a good tandem with me to make decisions that make sense in terms of sport,” he said. “At the end of the day, sport and football is a people business, so the people you have are key.”
Just as Carro revamped Bayer Leverkusen, he also sees an opportunity to reform the German football system, which he believes is outdated and lagging behind the Spanish and English leagues. In Germany, clubs are limited by the so-called 50+1 rule, which states that regardless of the size of the investor’s stake, the majority of votes must always go to the fans. Bayer Leverkusen is exempt from the rule because it is wholly owned by Bayer. However, Carro has not hidden his distaste for the rule.
“It stops you from bringing in new resources because if people put money into a club they want to have a say,” he said. “Why should they put money if they can’t have a say?”
The institutional investors Those who have flooded into European football—the sovereign wealth of the Gulf and American private equity—find the rule inappropriate because they are concerned about not being able to control their investments. However, that hasn’t stopped some from investing. Miami-based private equity firm and leading sports investor 777 Partners He bought a 64% stake Hertha Berlin in March 2023.
German fans have a reputation for being firm against institutional investors. The Bundesliga had to cancel a $1 billion deal to sell up to 8% to investors outside of its media rights after a fan revolt including that remote controlled cars attacking the field
Private equity firms can help propel clubs forward by encouraging them to think differently, according to Carro. However, any private equity investment remains purely hypothetical, and therefore far from Carro’s mind.
“I don’t think about it because it’s something that’s not possible,” he said. “So I don’t think about anything that won’t be possible.”
