Mehdi Bayat

{{short description|French-Iranian businessman|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Expand French|date=July 2019|topic=sport}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Mehdi Bayat | nickname = | image = File:Medhi Bayat.jpg | caption = | birth_name = Mehdigholi Bayat | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=y|1979|1|6}} | birth_place = Malayer, Iran | citizenship = French | alma_mater = | occupation = | father = Abbas Bayat | relatives = Mogi Bayat (brother) | spouse = | children = | website = | signature = | footnotes = }}

'''Mehdigholi Bayat''' (born 6 January 1979 in Tehran) is an Iranian sports administrator who served as president of the Royal Belgian Football Association and managing director of Royal Charleroi Sporting Club.

==Biography== Mehdi Bayat spent his childhood and teenage years in the Cannes area. While his parents regularly traveled to Iran, he decided to settle in the south of France. As a young teenager, he was under the thumb of his older brother Mogi Bayat, who was five years his senior.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lavenir.net/cnt/dmf20120928_00210901 |title=Mehdi et le petit Robert |website=L'Avenir }}</ref>

Mehdi Bayat attended school there, graduating from the EDHEC Business School. In the early 2000s, at the age of 21, he returned to Iran for a year.

Upon his return to France, Mehdi Bayat first worked with his brother in Paris at their uncle Abbas's company, before going on to manage a communications company in the south of France.

==Career== Born in Tehran and raised in Cannes, Mehdi Bayat has been the managing director of Charleroi since September 2012.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Mehdi Bayat (Sporting de Charleroi): "Peut-être qu'un jour, on ouvrira le capital"|url=https://www.lecho.be/entreprises/sport/mehdi-bayat-sporting-de-charleroi-peut-etre-qu-un-jour-on-ouvrira-le-capital/9997479.html|date=31 March 2018|website=L'Echo|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Mehdi Bayat: "Et si on gagnait encore une place ?"|url=https://www.dhnet.be/sports/football/division-1a/charleroi/mehdi-bayat-et-si-on-gagnait-encore-une-place-5aa6d75acd7063d56730eb35|date=13 March 2018|website=www.dhnet.be|language=fr|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Sporting Charleroi kit up with Kappa – SportsPro Media|url=https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/sporting-charleroi-kit-up-with-kappa|website=www.sportspromedia.com|access-date=2020-05-06}}</ref> He became President of the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.varzesh3.com/news/1619346 |title=یک ایرانی رییس فدراسیون فوتبال بلژیک شد |language=Persian}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bayat, Mehdi}} Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century Iranian businesspeople Category:Iranian emigrants to France Category:Iranian football chairmen and investors Category:Royal Charleroi SC