Albert Guðmundsson

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Albert Guðmundsson

Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson (born October 5, 1923, died April 7, 1994) was the first Icelandic professional football player and played for, amongst others, Rangers, Arsenal, AS Nancy and AC Milan. After retiring from his sporting career he became a politician and was a member of Alþingi for 15 years, serving as Minister of Finance and Minister of Industry. He ran for president in 1980 but lost to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir.

[edit] Sporting career

Albert played football from a young age with local club Valur. In 1944 he made his way to Scotland to study business at Skerry's College, Glasgow. He began his abroad footballing career with Rangers. After a short stint there he went to England where he played for Arsenal as an amateur; he played several friendly matches and two First Division matches in October 1946. He was Arsenal's second player from outside the British Isles, after Gerard Keyser.

In a match against Racing Club de Paris in 1946 he caught the eye of the French side, who wanted to sign him. Albert was unable to gain a work permit in England, and thus could not turn professional, so he started to look to play elsewhere. In the end he did sign for a French club, but it was Nancy who captured him instead. Albert finished his first season with Nancy as the top scorer and scored two goals in each cup game, which were all won 2-1.

In 1948 Albert signed for AC Milan. He broke his knee in a match against Lazio and appeared to be beyond repair. However the team doctor for Milan's rivals Internazionale wanted to perform a surgery on the knee, a risk that Milan was not willing to agree to. Albert then bought out his contract and had the operation, which was a success.

After recovering he returned to France where he played for several clubs before retiring in 1954.

In 1967 he was awarded the Silver badge of the Football Association of Iceland (KSÍ) for his work in football.

In 1968 he was elected the chairman of KSÍ, a post he held until 1973, he was awarded the Gold badge for his work that same year as he stepped down.

[edit] Political career

After returning from France, Albert started a business career in 1956 as a wholesaler, selling French women's clothing.

He joined the Independence Party and in 1970 was elected councilman for Reykjavík, holding this office until 1986.

In 1974 he was elected to the Alþingi (the Icelandic parliament), representing Reykjavík. In 1983 he became Minister of Finance. In 1985 he was appointed Minister of Industry, a position he held until 1987.

In 1987 he formed his own political party, the Citizen's Party and served as its chairman until 1989.

He was appointed resident ambassador to France in 1989 and held that position until 1993. Previously he had been France's consul in Iceland between 1962 and 1989.

He was a controversial figure and admitted to being a solo player in the political world. His split from the Independence Party in 1987 came with a bang and in the elections that year his newly formed party managed to get 7 members into Alþingi, a feat which few others could have achieved.