0:06

Before France had even kicked a ball

0:08

at the Euros, captain and talisman Kylian

0:10

Mbappe had warned that his country

0:12

were approaching a crucial moment in

0:14

their history. France,

0:20

one of the pre-tournament favourites, are still

0:22

battling to win the European Championships after

0:24

squeezing past Belgium and into the quarter-finals

0:27

on Monday night. At the

0:29

same time, a high-stakes national election is taking

0:31

place back home, in which the far right

0:33

are also on track to win. So

0:48

today we're going to explore why the

0:50

success of the French national team is

0:52

so at odds with Marie Le Pen's

0:55

party politics, and how a surprise victory

0:57

for the far right this Sunday could

0:59

impact the Olympics in Paris later this

1:01

month. Welcome to the Sports

1:03

Agents. Hello,

1:18

Gabby here. Mark has been back in Berlin

1:20

for the Euros, but he has been catching

1:23

up with the news agent John Sopel, who's

1:25

live in Paris and covering the first round

1:27

of voting in France over the weekend. You'll

1:54

hear that interview in full shortly, and also

1:56

I've been speaking to Tom Williams, who's

1:58

a French football writer. who will

2:01

discuss how these elections and the

2:03

fallout might impact not just these

2:05

players at the Euros and France's

2:07

success there, but also the Olympic

2:09

Games in Paris, which of course

2:11

start at the end of this

2:13

month. And we really appreciate

2:15

all of your emails, thoughts for stories

2:17

as well. And Susan, a listener, has

2:19

got in touch with us at the

2:22

sports agents at global.com to ask the

2:24

following. Hey, sports agents, following the news

2:26

that Manchester United are turfing the women's

2:28

team out there facilities into porter cabins

2:30

to make way for the men and

2:33

with the departure of Katie Zellum and

2:35

Mary Earps. Are they not only doing

2:37

the wrong thing by their women's Super

2:39

League team, but also missing a huge

2:42

opportunity? Well, thank you, Susan, for that

2:44

email, because I saw that story break

2:46

and immediately sent it to our producer,

2:48

Adonis, because it felt at the time

2:50

like it was so shocking that it

2:53

couldn't quite be true. When it turns

2:55

out it is. What does

2:57

that mean for Manchester United's women's team?

2:59

Bear in mind, they've just won the

3:02

F.A. Cup for the first time in

3:04

their history, but they've also lost, as

3:06

Susan says, there the England

3:08

goalkeeper, Mary Earps, and her statement, which

3:10

we're going to in full later, was

3:12

quite telling about what she feels the

3:14

priority is at the club at the

3:16

moment and the direction of travel in

3:18

the club at the moment. I've also

3:20

spoken to Kelly Simmons, who is the

3:23

former director of the professional women's game

3:25

at the F.A. I caught up with

3:27

her a little bit earlier today. What's

3:29

really surprised me is just how, I

3:32

suppose, obvious and public facing

3:34

they've been around sort of

3:36

the lack of focus

3:38

on the women's team. And I think that's really

3:40

damaging for the Manchester United brand. So you'll hear

3:42

that interview in full, and we're going to speak

3:44

to Polly Bancroft, who is the head of women's

3:46

football at Manchester United until very

3:48

recently. And that is all part of Thursday's

3:50

Closer Look at This Story. It's really important

3:53

that you hit follow or subscribe on Global

3:55

Player or wherever you get your podcasts so

3:57

you never miss an episode of the show.