Hafiz Mammadov (; born 2 December 1964 in Nakhchivan, in Azerbaijan) is an Azerbaijani businessman who founded and owns the Baghlan Group. He used to own football clubs

FC Baku FC Baku (), founded as Dinamo Baku in 1997, was an Azerbaijani football club based in Baku that had been an amateur club since 2016. Prior to that, Baku played 18 seasons in the Azerbaijan Premier League, winning the championship twice and the ...

and

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

Biography

Hafiz Mammadov founded the Baghlan Group in 1998 in Azerbaijan. The Baghlan Group is a company that specialises in oil, gas, construction and transportation, mainly in Azerbaijan. Though not related, Hafiz's very strong links to the family of the controversial former transport minister, Ziya Mammadov, has been cited as one of Baghlan's major commercial advantages allowing the group to grow enormously and for Hafiz Mammadov to become a multi-millionaire.

Football

Mammadov used his millions to invest in his passion for football. In 2004, he became owner of local football club

, a team in the

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League (), also known as Misli Premyer Liqası for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Azerbaijan and the highest level of the Azerbaijani football league system. It is contested by twelve ...

. In 2013, he expanded bought

in France.

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

. Wearing the Land of Fire logo, Lens gained promotion that season under Mammadov's ownership from

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

. Hafiz also owned shares in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

and during the 2012–13 and 2013-14 the club enjoyed very successful seasons wearing the same Land of Fire logo. On 10 June 2014, Mammadov agreed to take ownership of another European football club – this time it was the English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

. Mammadov looked to take over from the current Chairman

Milan Mandarić Milan Mandarić ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Мандарић; born 5 September 1938) is a Serbian-American businessman who has owned a string of businesses and association football clubs, including Portsmouth, Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday. H ...

. The bid for SWFC was rumoured to have been around €50 million however, at the beginning of September, due to Mammadov's failure to meet financial obligations and complete the takeover, Mandarić called the deal off despite shirts having already gone on sale bearing the Land of Fire logo. According to former President of France

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

he directly intervened in favour of the Football Club of Lens. This was due to financial difficulties in Azerbaijan which forced a number of players and personnel from Baku FC to seek new clubs, leaving the club's future uncertain. Later that year, Mammadov's failure to provide promised investment of around £4 million to fund transfers for Lens resulted in Lens fans calling for a boycott of the club's main shirt sponsor and saw the club threatened with relegation to League 2, but while some press reports suggested Mammadov was in serious trouble, others suggested a complex web of oligarch connections might allow the situation to be salvaged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mammadov, Hafiz People from the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic Azerbaijani businesspeople Azerbaijani billionaires 1964 births Living people Azerbaijani investors RC Lens non-playing staff