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.
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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 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.
The family is soccer royalty in Iceland and Gudmundsson’s father Gudmundur Benediktsson played for the national team before becoming a commentator on television.
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)
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)
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's elections on Tuesday included a state Supreme Court race that saw the incumbent win in a race unusually heated by the standards of the state's nonpartisan judicial elections, as well as a five-way GOP primary for an open seat in the strongly Republican 3rd Congressional District south and west of Atlanta.
Two Democratic congressional incumbents — U.S. Reps. David Scott and Lucy McBath — defeated primary challengers in metro Atlanta districts that were redrawn by Republicans after redistricting lawsuits.
Parties were also choosing their nominees for other congressional and state legislative seats and local offices including sheriffs, district attorneys and county commissioners.
Runoffs will be held June 18 in races where candidates don't win a majority.
Here's a look at key races:
Georgia state Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson has defeated a challenge from former U.S. Rep. John Barrow in the general election for judicial candidates, who run without party labels.
The 37-year-old Pinson wins a six-year term after Gov. Brian Kemp appointed him to the nine-member court in 2022. The 69-year-old Barrow made support for abortion rights central to his campaign. Pinson said discussing issues would weaken confidence that he could judge fairly, and he warned of making judicial campaigns too political.
Kemp and other conservatives intervened to aid Pinson in a race that grew heated by the usually sleepy standards of Georgia’s judicial elections. Barrow unsuccessfully sued in federal court, saying a state judicial agency was violating his free-speech rights. The agency warned Barrow his claim that Georgians have a right to abortion under the state constitution might be violating judicial ethics.
Justices Michael Boggs, John Ellington and Nels Peterson were unopposed. Six judges on the Georgia Court of Appeals are also unopposed, while Jeff Davis beat Tabitha Ponder for an open seat on the court.
Five Republicans are seeking their party’s nomination to succeed Republican U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, who is stepping down after four terms.
Former President Donald Trump has endorsed his onetime aide Brian Jack for the seat. Jack, who later worked for then-U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, parlayed Trump’s endorsement and his Washington contacts into a fundraising lead in his first run for office.
Also seeking the nomination are former state Sens. Mike Crane and Mike Dugan, former state Rep. Philip Singleton and party activist Jim Bennett. Dugan emphasized his successes as state Senate majority leader, while Crane highlighted his religious beliefs and opposition to abortion. Singleton promised not to compromise conservative principles.
The Republican nominee will be the favorite in a strongly Republican district that runs along the Alabama border from Carrollton to Columbus and swings east into the Atlanta suburbs around Peachtree City and Fayetteville.
On the Democratic side, Val Almonord and Maura Keller are seeking their party’s nomination.
Scott beat six Democratic primary opponents to advance to the general election as he seeks a 12th congressional term in Georgia’s 13th Congressional District that was significantly reconfigured in a new map.
Challengers attacked the 78-year-old Scott as too old and out of touch, but those claims never gained traction with voters. Scott said in March that he’s seeking another term to enhance funding for historically Black colleges such as Fort Valley State University, and to provide more assistance to struggling homeowners.
Among Scott’s primary opponents were Marcus Flowers, who raised $17 million to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene in another district in 2022, and former East Point City Councilmember Karen René. Scott will face the winner of the Republican primary, Jonathan Chavez, in November.
McBath beat two Democratic primary opponents to clinch the nomination in her second new district in two years.
She overcame Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. Mandisha Thomas, who both claimed they could better represent the new 6th District. Republican lawmakers drew the district, which wraps around the west side of metro Atlanta, after a court ordered new maps to remedy discrimination against Black voters.
Republican Jeff Criswell will oppose her in November.
McBath was first elected in 2018 in a district that covered Atlanta’s inner northern suburbs. After a new map in 2022 added more Republicans to that district, McBath jumped to a district that included parts of Gwinnett and Fulton counties. There, she defeated fellow Democratic incumbent Carolyn Bourdeaux in a primary.
McBath, whose son was shot to death, has made gun control and reducing gun violence her primary focus. She also says she wants to work on reducing health care disparities in another term.
“Twice, extremist Georgia Republicans tried to bend the rules and draw me out of Congress,” McBath said in a statement. “Twice, Georgians have stood with me and resoundingly voted to send me back to Congress.”
Two years ago, Republicans had hoped they had a chance to defeat 16-term Democratic incumbent Sanford Bishop Jr. in southwest Georgia's 2nd District. But Bishop won that election easily. Now two more Republicans will go to a runoff hoping to take a shot a Bishop, who was unopposed on the Democratic ballot.
Advancing to the June 18 runoff are Wayne Johnson, of Macon, and Chuck Hand, of Butler. Johnson was an official in the U.S. Education Department under Trump and finished third in the Republican primary two years ago, Hand is a Taylor County Republican Party official and construction superintendent who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for illegally demonstrating in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He was sentenced to 20 days in federal prison and six months of probation.
Johnson and Hand beat Michael Nixon, of Thomasville, a hospital purchasing director and Air Force veteran, and Regina “Reggie” Liparoto, of Columbus, a longtime conservative activist.
Two Democrats in northwest Georgia's 14th District will compete in a runoff for the right to challenge Republican incumbent Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has no GOP opposition.
Advancing to the runoff are consultant Clarence Blalock, of Hiram, and retired Army general Shawn Harris, of Cedartown. They beat sales manager Deric Houston, of Dallas, and business manager Joseph Leigh, of Rossville. Harris has by far raised the most money of the four.
For most candidates, their top issue is their distaste for Greene, a top ally of Trump who recently failed in an effort to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson. The winner will have an uphill fight in a heavily Republican district. Two years ago, Democrat Marcus Flowers raised more than $16 million in his challenge to Greene but still lost badly.
Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, the only other incumbent facing a primary challenge, beat retired banker and longtime Republican activist Lori Marie Pesta and retired airline pilot Mike Pons in the 11th Congressional District northwest of Atlanta. Kate Stamper won the Democratic nomination against Antonio Daza.
Democrats chose Darrius Butler to challenge Republican incumbent Austin Scott in south and middle Georgia's 8th District. In northeast Georgia's 10th District, they chose Lexy Doherty to challenge incumbent Mike Collins. And Democrat Elizabeth Johnson will face incumbent Republican Rick Allen for a third time in the 12th District around Augusta.
FILE - Rep. Lucy McBath D-GA poses for photographers as she arrives at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington, Saturday, April 27, 2024. U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath has beaten two Democratic primary opponents to clinch the nomination in her second new district in two years. McBath has overcome Cobb County Commissioner Jerica Richardson and state Rep. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, file)
FILE - Republican Jim Bennett listens at the 3rd Congressional District debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club on, April 28, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are choosing between Bennett and four other Republicans in a primary to decide the GOP nominee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
FILE- Republican Philip Singleton listens at the 3rd Congressional District debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club on April 28, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are choosing between Singleton and four other Republicans in a primary to decide the GOP nominee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
FILE – Republican Mike Dugan speaks at the 3rd Congressional District debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club on April 28, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are choosing between Dugan and four other Republicans in a primary to decide the GOP nominee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
FILE – Republican Mike Crane listens at the 3rd Congressional District debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club on April 28, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are choosing between Crane and four other Republicans in a primary to decide the GOP nominee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
FILE - Republican Brian Jack speaks at the 3rd Congressional District debate hosted by the Atlanta Press Club on April 28, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are choosing between Jack and four other Republicans in a primary to decide the GOP nominee on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jason Allen, File)
FILE – John Barrow speaks to a Democratic group in Hoschton, Ga., on April 15, 2024, seeking support in his race for the Georgia Supreme Court. Voters are deciding the race between the Democratic former congressman and incumbent Justice Andrew Pinson in a nonpartisan general election on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy, File)
FILE - Supreme Court Justice Andrew Pinson poses, April 17, 2024, in Atlanta. Voters are deciding the race between Pinson and Democratic former congressman John Barrow in a nonpartisan general election on Tuesday, May 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)
Voters depart an election center during primary voting, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
