Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson

Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson (born October 5, 1923 , † April 7, 1994 ) was an Icelandic- French football player and politician. He was the first Icelandic professional footballer and played for about Glasgow Rangers , Arsenal , FC Nancy and AC Milan . After the end of his sporting career, he became a member of the independence party in the Icelandic parliament Althing and later finance and industry minister.

Life

Career as a professional footballer

Albert Guðmundsson played for Valur Reykjavík . From 1944 he studied economics at Skerry's College in Glasgow . So began his career abroad with the Glasgow Rangers . After a short time he moved to Arsenal in London , where he played with the amateurs. He played his first friendly and first division games in October 1946. After Gerard Keyser , he was the second Arsenal player who did not come from the British Isles.

During a game against Racing Paris , this club became aware of him and wanted to hire him. Since Albert did not get a work permit in Great Britain and therefore could not become a professional, he was looking for alternatives anyway. He did not accept the offer from RC Paris, but switched to another French club, FC Nancy . He finished his first season with Nancy as the top scorer, scoring two goals in every cup game.

In 1948 he moved to AC Milan . He broke his knee in a game against Lazio . Although an operation by the team doctor of AC Milan rival Inter Milan seemed possible, Albert's team did not agree. He therefore got out of the contract at his own expense and had the operation carried out, which was also successful.

After his recovery he returned to France and played for several top division clubs - including from 1949 to 1952 for Racing Paris, with which he lost the French Cup final to Stade Reims in 1950 , and the OGC Nice (1952/53) - before he did 1954 ended his professional career.

In 1967 he was awarded the Silver Medal of Honor by the Icelandic Football Association (KSÍ). Between 1968 and 1973 he was chairman of the KSÍ. In the year of his resignation, he received the KSÍ Gold Medal for his services to Icelandic football.

Political career

After returning to Iceland in 1956, he ran a successful French women's fashion boutique. He later expanded his import business to include other goods, mainly French goods.

He joined the Independence Party and was elected to Reykjavík City Council in 1970 . He held this post until 1986.

In 1974 he was elected to the Icelandic parliament Althing . In the 1980 presidential election he lost to Vigdís Finnbogadóttir . In 1983 he became Minister of Finance. From 1985 to 1987 he was Minister of Industry. A tax scandal forced him to resign.

Feeling badly supported by the Independence Party, he left shortly after his resignation and only a few weeks before the 1987 parliamentary elections . He founded his own party, the Borgaraflokkurinn, and ran with it for election. The right-wing populist party was able to achieve 10.9% of the vote and thus seven parliamentary seats. At the same time, the Independence Party suffered the worst defeat in history with only 27.2%.

In 1989 Albert Guðmundsson resigned as party chairman and was appointed Icelandic ambassador to France; He stayed that way until 1993. From 1962 to 1989 he had already been the French consul in Iceland.

literature

• Albert Gudmundsson , in: Internationales Biographisches Archiv 18/1990 from April 23, 1990, in the Munzinger Archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)

Web links

• Profile on the homepage of the Icelandic Parliament (Icelandic)

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .