Leverkusen CEO Carro blames bureaucracy for Germany’s World Cup exit
The Bayer Leverkusen chief cites decade-long delays in infrastructure approval and a lack of ambition compared to Spain, France, and England as root causes of the national team’s struggles.
Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has attributed Germany’s early exit from the World Cup to deep-seated structural, political, and cultural deficiencies within German society. Speaking to AFP on Tuesday, the club’s chief executive argued that excessive bureaucracy and slow decision-making are hindering the development of modern football infrastructure and youth integration.
Germany were eliminated by Paraguay in the last-32 of the tournament in June, marking their third consecutive failure to progress deep into the competition. The side had previously crashed out at the group stage in both 2018 and 2022. Carro, who has led Leverkusen since 2018, noted that the national team’s performance reflects broader systemic issues rather than isolated on-field failures.
Carro highlighted that Leverkusen has waited nearly a decade for approval on a new training centre, despite scaling down the project from its initial target. He stated that the club is still struggling with approvals despite identifying a suitable site, describing this as an example of a much broader challenge facing German football. He argued that projects to improve conditions are too often slowed down by lengthy bureaucratic processes.
Contrasting Germany’s situation with its neighbours, Carro pointed to the consistent investment in academies and modern facilities by Spain, France, and England. He noted that these three nations reached the latter stages of the World Cup, attributing their success to enormous ambition, resilience, and collective strength. Carro, originally from Barcelona, suggested that Germany could learn from these similarly developed football nations that have invested consistently in coaches and player development.
While acknowledging the appointment of Jurgen Klopp as the new national coach following Julian Nagelsmann’s resignation, Carro asserted that a single coach cannot resolve long-term structural challenges. He emphasised that the conditions around the manager are at least as important, calling for a strong and modern youth development concept, state-of-the-art infrastructure, and a willingness to change within the system.
