Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson (5 October 1923 – 7 April 1994) was an Icelandic professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for, amongst others, Rangers, Arsenal,

FC Nancy Football club de Nancy was a French association football team playing in the city of Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle. The team was founded in 1901 and dissolved in 1968. Honours * Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Cou ...

and

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. After retiring from his sporting career he became a politician and was a member of Alþingi for 15 years, serving as

Minister of Finance of Iceland The Icelandic Ministry of Finance (Icelandic: ') is responsible for overseeing the finances of the Icelandic government. The Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs is Bjarni Benediktsson. Organization of the Ministry of Finance The top civ ...

and Minister of Industry.

Sporting career

Albert played football from a young age with local club Valur. In 1944 he made his way to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

to study business at

Skerry's College Skerry's College was a series of colleges which primarily prepared candidates for Civil Service examinations. History 1878-1885 Skerry’s College was inaugurated as a small training centre in Edinburgh in 1878 by George Skerry,Skerry's Colleg ...

, Glasgow. He began his foreign 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 only Arsenal's second foreign player.

Political career

In 1974, he was elected to the Alþingi (the Icelandic parliament), representing

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

. He ran for president in 1980 election but only finished third and lost to

Vigdís Finnbogadóttir Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (; born 15 April 1930) is an Icelandic politician who served as the fourth president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996. She was the world's first woman who was democratically elected as president. With a presidency of exact ...

. In 1983, he became

. In 1985, he was appointed Minister of Industry, a position he held until 1987, when a tax scandal forced his resignation. Feeling that the Independence Party's leadership had failed to support him, he left the party soon after his

resignation Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...

and only a few weeks before a general election.

References

External links

Alþingi – Biography of ministers: Albert Guðmundsson
(in Icelandic) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gudmundsson, Albert 1923 births 1994 deaths Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Rangers F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players A.C. Milan players Racing Club de France Football players OGC Nice players FC Nancy players Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Scotland Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in England Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in France Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Italy Icelandic expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Ligue 1 players Serie A players English Football League players Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson People educated at Skerry's College Albert Gudmundsson Albert Gudmundsson Association football forwards