Iceland looks to Euro 2024 bolstered by Gudmundsson after investigation

Albert Gudmundsson has become key to Iceland’s ambition in the European Championship after he could not be picked last year during a criminal investigation.

Iceland plays Ukraine on Tuesday with a place at Euro 2024 at stake in a qualifying playoff final earned by Gudmundsson’s hat trick in a 4-1 win over Israel last week.

Gudmundsson missed six games through November in Iceland’s qualifying group because the national soccer federation enforced disciplinary rules that excluded him after a woman alleged he sexually assaulted her.

Prosecutors in Iceland recently closed their investigation, and the 26-year-old Genoa forward — the fourth generation of his family to play for the national team — was cleared for selection again.

“We were lacking goals earlier in qualification last year and now we got Albert Gudmundsson back,” Iceland coach Åge Hareide said after the Israel win last Thursday, “and he showed that he’s a class player.”

The federation said on Monday it followed its internal rules and allowed Gudmundsson to return.

He denied the allegations and has not spoken about the case while with the national team.

Iceland's Albert Gudmundsson celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's fourth goal during the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off soccer match between Israel and Iceland, at Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Iceland had one of the few woman presidents in world soccer, former national team player Vanda Sigurgeirsdóttir, last year when Gudmundsson’s case emerged. She was elected in 2021 after previous leaders resigned amid criticism of how they handled that implicated men’s national team players.

Those cases took the shine off the Nordic island of about 375,000 people being a feelgood story in global soccer — a at Euro 2016 in France, then the smallest nation ever to play at a men’s World Cup, opening in 2018 with a 1-1 .

Gudmundsson was too young for Iceland’s tournament debut in 2016, then got just a few minutes of playing time as substitute at the World Cup in Russia.

Now he shapes as the biggest challenge for Ukraine in their playoff final in neutral Wroclaw, Poland.

Gudmundsson showed a full array of scoring skills against Israel: A curling free kick to level the game before halftime; beating the goalkeeper one on one after dribbling through the heart of the defense; a predatory pounce on a loose ball after a save.

After 10 goals in Serie A this season with mid-table Genoa, Gudmundsson’s standout game has fueled more speculation he will soon move to a bigger club. Genoa resisted Fiorentina’s offers in January.

Italian champion Inter Milan is reportedly also interested in a player whose great-grandfather, also called Albert Gudmundsson, played for AC Milan in the 1940s.

Iceland's Albert Gudmundsson, left, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off soccer match between Israel and Iceland, at Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

The family is soccer royalty in Iceland and Gudmundsson’s father Gudmundur Benediktsson played for the national team before becoming a commentator on television.

Better known as his was the enthusiastic voice on broadcasts from France eight years ago that made headlines and worldwide.

Father and son have one more game to go toward working together in Germany this summer, when Iceland would play in a group against Romania, Slovakia and Belgium.

Iceland's coach Age Hareide stands during the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off soccer match between Israel and Iceland, at Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Iceland's Albert Gudmundsson scores his side's first goal during the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off soccer match between Israel and Iceland, at Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Iceland's Albert Gudmundsson , left, celebrates with his teammates after scoring his side's first goal during the Euro 2024 qualifying play-off soccer match between Israel and Iceland, at Szusza Ferenc Stadium in Budapest, Hungary, Thursday, March 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

PHOENIX (AP) — Democrats in the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions, which a court said can be enforced.

Fourteen Democrats in the Senate are hoping to pick up at least two Republican votes to win final approval of the repeal bill, which narrowly cleared the Arizona House last week and is expected to be signed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

The near-total ban, which predates Arizona’s statehood, permits abortions only to save the patient's life — and provides no exceptions for survivors of rape or incest. In a ruling last month, the Arizona Supreme Court suggested doctors could be prosecuted under the 1864 law, which says that anyone who assists in an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison.

If the repeal bill is signed, a 2022 statute banning the procedure after 15 weeks of pregnancy would become Arizona’s prevailing abortion law. Still, there would likely be a period when nearly all abortions would be outlawed, because the repeal won’t take effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session, likely in June or July.

Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, who opposes enforcement of the 19th century law, has said that the earliest the state can enforce the law is June 27, though she has asked the state’s highest court to block enforcement for a three-month period ending sometime in late July. The anti-abortion group defending the ban, Alliance Defending Freedom, maintains that county prosecutors can begin enforcing it once the state Supreme Court’s decision becomes final, which hasn’t yet occurred.

Arizona is one of a handful of battleground states that will decide the next president. Former President Donald Trump, who has warned that the issue could lead to Republican losses, has avoided endorsing a national abortion ban but said he’s proud to have appointed the Supreme Court justices who allowed states to outlaw it.

The law had been blocked since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion nationwide.

When Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022 though, then-Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, persuaded a state judge that the 1864 ban could again be enforced. Still, the law hasn’t actually been enforced while the case was making its way through the courts. Mayes, who succeeded Brnovich, urged the state’s high court against reviving the law.

Planned Parenthood officials vowed to continue providing abortions for the short time they are still legal and said they will reinforce networks that help patients travel out of state to places like New Mexico and California to access abortion.

Advocates are collecting signatures for a ballot measure allowing abortions until a fetus could survive outside the womb, typically around 24 weeks, with exceptions — to save the parent’s life, or to protect her physical or mental health.

Republican lawmakers, in turn, are considering putting one or more competing abortion proposals on the November ballot.

A leaked planning document outlined the approaches being considered by House Republicans, such as codifying existing abortion regulations, proposing a 14-week ban that would be “disguised as a 15-week law” because it would allow abortions until the beginning of the 15th week, and a measure that would prohibit abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before many people know they’re pregnant.

House Republicans have not yet publicly released any such proposed ballot measures.

FILE - The Arizona Senate building at the state Capitol stands, April 11, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

FILE - Pro-life demonstrators walk in the front of the Arizona Capitol prior to the vote on the proposed repeal of the state's near-total ban on abortions prior to winning approval from the state House on, April 24, 2024, in Phoenix. Democrats at the Arizona Legislature are expected to make a final push Wednesday, May 1, to repeal the state’s long-dormant ban on nearly all abortions that a court said can be enforced. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)