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 its war, first as prime minister and then as president. Weah, who played football for 18 years in Africa and Europe, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Liberian presidency in 2005 before his election in 2017. Johannesen, who played in goal four times for the Faroe Islands national football team during the 1990s, became prime minister of the Faroe Islands in 2008. Other footballers who have sought high political office include Albert Guðmundsson (who finished third in the 1980 Icelandic presidential election) and Oleg Malyshkin, who finished fifth in the 2004 Russian presidential elections.