Bayer Leverkusen have appointed Carles Martínez as their new head coach.
The 42-year-old Spaniard has signed a two-year deal on the BayArena after agreeing to succeed Kasper Hjulmand, who stepped in early final season following the quick, disastrous reign of Erik ten Hag.
Martinez led Toulouse to a ninth-placed finish in Ligue 1 last season and will likely be tasked with rebuilding a Leverkusen facet that has but to get well from the departure of Bundesliga-winning coach Xabi Alonso 12 months in the past.
The club’s managing director for sport Simon Rolfes said: “Now we have labored intensively on which coach is greatest fitted to the subsequent part of Bayer 04’s improvement. Carles Martínez has efficiently developed quite a few younger gamers at Toulouse and moulded a global group into a robust unit.
“Along with this helpful expertise, he brings a excessive degree of experience from his time on the Barcelona youth academy to Leverkusen. Carles is a coach with clear ideas and a contemporary method to the sport. We’re satisfied he can present the proper impetus for our sporting future.”
Carro satisfied Martinez is the proper man to take Leverkusen ahead
Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro added: “At Bayer 04, we’ve got developed strongly each domestically and in Europe over latest years. Our objective stays to be aggressive on the highest degree and to additional consolidate our place among the many main golf equipment in Europe.
“We’re satisfied that Carles Martínez, together with his spectacular profile as a coach, matches in very nicely with this ambition. He embodies a contemporary sort of coach who can develop our extremely proficient group, elevate it to a persistently excessive degree and lead it to tangible success.”
Hjulmand took over in September final yr after Ten Hag was dismissed two video games into the 2025/26 league season however didn’t encourage a much-changed squad from that with which Alonso had a lot success within the 2023/24 marketing campaign.
Leverkusen opted to dispense with the previous Denmark coach after Leverkusen might solely handle a sixth-placed end final season, lacking out on a Bundesliga spot.
