Albert Guðmundsson
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson | ||
| Date of birth | 5 October 1923 | ||
| Place of birth | Reykjavík, Iceland | ||
| Date of death | April 7, 1994 (aged 70) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1938–1944 | Valur | ||
| 1944–1946 | Rangers | ||
| 1944–1946 | Arsenal | 2 | (0) |
| 1947–1948 | Nancy | ||
| 1948–1949 | Milan | 14 | (2) |
| 1949–1952 | RC Paris | 69 | (31) |
| 1952–1952 | Nice | 14 | (0) |
| 1953–1955 | Valur | ||
| 1956–1958 | ÍBH Hafnarfjörður | ||
| National team | |||
| 1946–1958 | Iceland | 6 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Albert Sigurður Guðmundsson (5 October 1923 – 7 April 1994) was the first Icelandic professional football player and played for, amongst others, Rangers, Arsenal, FC 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.
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 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.
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.
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