Carro, who travelled to Geneva representing Bayer 04 as a member of the European Club Association (ECA), will be the only German representative on the committee of European top-ranking executives. He takes over from Michael Gerlinger (Bayern Munich) who will still have a seat on the ECA Executive Board.
"European club football is at a crossroads. It's a matter of bringing together different interests and finding workable solutions for everybody involved," declared Carro. "I like that intricacy, I like challenges like that and want to make a contribution in my role - on behalf of Bayer 04 Leverkusen - for German football together with our colleagues from the Bundesliga."
The UEFA Club Competitions Committee (CCC) is composed of 16 members from the ECA and four members from UEFA and reports to the UEFA Executive Committee. It has an important function in terms of organisation of compositions as well as the distribution of income from rights and marketing. The current chairman of the committee is the president of the Portuguese League Association Fernando Gomes.
In addition to Carro, the CEO of Manchester City, Ferran Soriano, plus club bosses Aurelio De Laurentiis (Napoli), Jacques-Henri Eyraud (Olympic Marseille) and Ivan Gazidis (AC Milan) were also nominated for the four-year term of office.
Michael Gerlinger and Hans-Joachim Watzke of Borussia Dortmund will represent German football on the ECA Executive Board from now on. Together with Fernando Carro's seat on the UEFA CCC, German football will now be represented by three clubs on European club committees.
Both the ECA Executive Board and the UEFA Club Competitions Committee see the currently discussed, potential reform of the UEFA Champions League from 2024 as one of the most important issues to be dealt with.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez Novell as the new head coach. The 42-year-old Spaniard worked for FC Toulouse in the French Ligue 1 until the end of the season. Martínez finished last term in ninth place with the club from the south of France. He will take over the Werkself on 1 July 2026 and has signed a contract to 30 June 2028. Martínez, whose contract with Toulouse expires at the end of the month, succeeds Kasper Hjulmand at Leverkusen, who is leaving the club after one season.
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Bayer 04 plans for the 2026/27 pre-season continue to take shape. The Werkself will kick off the new season in mid-July with the return to the training ground. The highlight will be the official season opener on 8 August at the BayArena, including a friendly against La Liga club Sevilla. Friendlies in Germany will take the team to neighbouring Monheim, Offenbach and Jena.
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Strengthening the Bayer 04 Leverkusen youth teams: Konstantinos Kotsifakis will join the Werkself from Bundesliga 2 club Hertha Berlin for the 2026/27 season, where he will be a permanent member of the Leverkusen U19 coaching set-up. The German-Greek will also take on an operational role in coaching the Bayer 04 Future Team. The 29-year-old was most recently head coach of the U17s at Hertha Berlin.
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Another award for the Bayer 04 head groundsman and staff: After coming top in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, the BayArena pitch came second in the Bundesliga Pitch of the Year ranking for the 2025/26 season. VfL Wolfsburg secured the top spot this year, with TSG Hoffenheim in third place.
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Opening opponents, derby weekends, the opponents in the season finale: This information and more will be available to Bayer 04 fans on Thursday, 2 July, when the 2026/27 Bundesliga fixture list is published.
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