When Afghanistan's capital city fell to the Taliban back in 2021, life for women across the country changed overnight… The national women's football team faced the real threat of execution, just for playing the game...

Already in exile, the country's first ever female football captain Khalida Popal - our guest on The Sports Agents today - orchestrated a massive evacuation strategy to get the players out of Kabul and into safety in places like the UK, Portugal and Australia.

Now, FIFA, the world's governing body for football, no longer recognises the team who is set to miss their second major tournament this summer.

*Trigger warning* Some of the themes explored within our interview contains mention of suicide and suicidal thoughts.

Plus, how Robert MacIntyre claimed his first ever win on the PGA tour, after his dad flew out to Canada to stand in as an emergency caddie for him, and a tribute to the life and legacy of Rugby League legend Rob Burrow.

Running order:

Rob MacIntyre & his dad Dougie the emergency caddie (07:35)

Khalida Popal interview (13:20)

Rob Burrow tribute (34:30)

Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Producers: David Domb & Sophie Penney

Video Producer: Sam Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Georgia Foxwell

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global 

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The Sports Agents".

And, the Sports Agents now have merch!