Association football and politics

The following article lists people notable for their involvement in association football and politics. Three former footballers have led their countries; Ahmed Ben Bella, George Weah and Kaj Leo Johannesen. Ben Bella played briefly for Marseille during the mid-1940s before leading Algeria in the aftermath of the Algerian War, first as Prime Minister then as President. Johannesen was a goalkeeper, playing four times as a goalkeeper for the Faroe Islands national football team during the 1990s before becoming Prime Minister in 2008. George Weah was in 2005 an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberian presidency, but was elected President of Liberia following the Election of 2017 [1] The list of other footballers to have sought high office includes Albert Guðmundsson, who finished third in the 1980 Icelandic presidential election and Oleg Malyshkin, who became fifth in 2004 Russian presidential elections.

List of footballer-politicians

Criteria

The following are people who have played professional and/or international football and have held political office.

Name	Country	Football	Politics	Comments	Reference
Camille Dimmer	Luxembourg	Luxembourg (1957 – 1964)	Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg (1989 – 1994) General Secretary of the Christian Social People's Party (1990 – 1995)		[2][3]
Pelé	Brazil	Santos (1956 – 1974) New York Cosmos (1975 – 1977) Brazil (1957 – 1971)	Extraordinary Minister of Sport (1995 – 1998)		[4]
Mustafa Mansour	Egypt	Egypt Al-Ahly Referee General Secretary of CAF (1958 – 1961)	Government minister		[5][6][7][8]
Ahmed Ben Bella	Algeria	Olympique Marseille (1939 – 1940)	Prime Minister of Algeria (1962 – 1963) President of Algeria (1963 – 1965)		[9]
George Weah	Liberia	Liberia	Presidential candidate in the 2005 Liberian general election Senator President of Liberia (January 2018 onwards) [10]		[11]
Don Rossiter	England	Leyton Orient	Mayor of Rochester, Kent
Garan Fabou Kouyate	Mali
Albert Guðmundsson	Iceland	Arsenal Racing Club AC Milan	Presidential candidate in the 1980 Icelandic presidential election Member of the Althing Minister of Finance Minister of Industry Icelandic Ambassador to France	Father of Ingi Björn Albertsson	[12]
Ingi Björn Albertsson	Iceland	Iceland	Member of the Althing (1987 – 1995)	Son of Albert Guðmundsson	[13]
Oleg Blokhin	Soviet Union, Ukraine	Soviet Union Dynamo Kyiv	Member of the Parliament of Ukraine		[14]
Carlos Bilardo	Argentina	San Lorenzo de Almagro Deportivo Español Estudiantes	Buenos Aires Province Secretary of Sports		[15]
József Bozsik	Hungary	Hungary Budapest Honvéd FC	Member of the National Assembly of Hungary (1953 – 1957)		[16][17]
Toshiro Tomochika	Japan	Ehime FC	Diet of Japan (2007 – present)
Danny Jordaan	South Africa		Member of the Parliament of South Africa (1994 – 1997)
Randy Horton	Bermuda	Bermuda New York Cosmos	Member of the Parliament of Bermuda (1998 – present)
Éric Di Meco	France	France Marseille
William Clegg	England	England Sheffield Wednesday	Lord Mayor of Sheffield (1898)		[18]
Roberto Dinamite	Brazil	Brazil Vasco da Gama	State Assembly of Rio de Janeiro (1994 – present)
Romário	Brazil	Brazil	Senate of Brazil (2010 – present)		[19]
Bebeto	Brazil	Brazil Deportivo La Coruña			[19]
Gianni Rivera	Italy	Italy A.C. Milan	Member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy (1994 – 2001) Undersecretary for Defense (2000 – 2001) Member of the European Parliament (2005 – 2009)		, ,
Kakha Kaladze	Georgia	Georgia Dinamo Tbilisi Dynamo Kyiv A.C. Milan Genoa C.F.C.	Minister of Energy Deputy Prime Minister of Georgia Mayor of Tbilisi [20]
José Francisco Cevallos	Ecuador	Ecuador Barcelona SC Once Caldas Deportivo Azogues LDU Quito	Ecuadorian Minister of Sports (2011 – present)		[21]
Roman Kosecki	Poland	Poland (1998 – 1995)	Member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (2007 – ?)		[22]
Roman Pavlyuchenko	Russia	Russia Tottenham Hotspur	Member of Stavropol regional council		[23]
Kaj Leo Johannesen	Faroe Islands	Faroe Islands	Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands		[24]
Titi Camara	Guinea	Guinea Saint-Étienne Lens Marseille Liverpool West Ham United Al-Ittihad Al-Siliya Amiens	Minister of Sport
Detlef Irrgang	Germany	Energie Cottbus	Councillor in Cottbus for the CDU
Zico	Brazil	Brazil	Minister of Sport (1990)		[25]
Lawrie McKinna	Scotland, Australia	Kilmarnock	Mayor of the City of Gosford (2012 – present)		[26]
Alistair Edwards	Australia	Australia (1991 – 1997)	Councillor of City of Cockburn (2000 – 2005)
Hakan Şükür	Turkey	Turkey Sakaryaspor Bursaspor Galatasaray Torino Inter Parma Blackburn Rovers	Member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (2011-)		[27]
Marc Wilmots	Belgium	Belgium (1990 – 2002) Belgium manager (2012 – 2016) Sint-Truiden Mechelen Standard Liège Schalke 04 Bordeaux	Member of Belgian Senate (2003 – 2005)		[28]
Thomas Bodström	Sweden	AIK (1987 – 1989)	Minister for Justice (2000 – 2006)

See also

• Politics and sports
• William Kennedy Gibson
• Oleg Malyshkin

References

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2. "DIMMER Camille". European Association of former Parliamentarians. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
3. "EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY". Maltasport.com. Archived from the original on 6 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
4. Bellos, Alex (25 November 2001). "Pele slips from Brazil pedestal". The Observer. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
5. Shaheen, Amr (3 May 2002). "1934: The flying Egyptian". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
6. Shaheen, Amr (24 July 2002). "Trailblazing keeper Mansour dies". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
7. "General Assemblies and history". Cafonline.com. Confederation of African Football. 12 October 2008. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
8. "MEMORIES: Keeper Mustafa great pair of hands". Evening Times. Herald & Times Group. 3 September 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
9. "Fiche de Ahmed Ben Bella". OM-Passion.com (in French). Archived from the original on 19 April 2012. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
10. "Liberia's George Weah slashes his salary and vows to change 'racist' constitution". the Guardian. 30 January 2018.
11. Soares, Claire (27 November 2005). "10 Questions for Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf". Time. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
12. "Albert Guðmundsson (Albert Sigurður)" (in Icelandic). Alþingi. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
13. "Ingi Björn Albertsson" (in Icelandic). Alþingi. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
14. Hughes, Rob (16 October 2009). "UEFA's Platini Displays Some Deft Moves". New York Times. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
15. Ley, John (18 November 2008). "Argentina '86: Where are they now?". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
16. Glanville, Brian (19 November 2006). "Peerless Puskas". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
17. "József Bozsik". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
18. Vincent, John (23 May 2011). "Match knights". Yorkshire Post. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
19. Chandler, Helen (30 November 2010). "Brazil's World Cup heroes swap football for politics". CNN. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
20. Editorial, Reuters. "Former soccer star Kaladze becomes mayor of Georgia's capital". U.K.
21. "Señor ministro – José Francisco Cevallos asumió el Ministerio del Deporte oficialmente". futbolecuador.com (in Spanish). Quito, Ecuador. 26 May 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
22. "Posłowie VI kadencji" (in Polish). Sejm of the Republic of Poland. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
23. Gripper, Anne (14 October 2008). "Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko wins seat in Russian council election". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
24. Corless, Damian (11 April 2009). "Now he's away with the Faroes". Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
25. "The Perils of Pelé". New York Times. 29 December 1994. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
26. Collins, Terry (25 September 2012). "First time councillor Lawrie McKinna elected mayor of Gosford Council". Express Advocate. News Community Media. Retrieved 26 September 2012.
27. "Hakan Şükür urged to quit Parliament, not only ruling AKP Movesurl=http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/hakan-sukur-urged-to-quit-parliament-not-only-ruling-akp.aspx?pageID=238&nID=59753&NewsCatID=338". Hurriyet. 17 December 2013.
28. Marc Wilmots - MR, retrieved 4 June 2014