The Women's World Cup is a week away

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The biggest event in women's soccer kicks off next Thursday in Australia and New Zealand with three matches, including Canada vs. Nigeria at 10:30 p.m. ET. Here's a catchup on some recent stories surrounding the tournament:

Finally, everyone is getting paid.

Last year, 150 players from 25 different countries pushed FIFA to make the prize money it offers for the Women's World Cup equal to the men's. They also asked for some of the cash to go directly to players, rather than into the hands of national federations to parcel out according to their deals with teams. Those agreements sometimes aren't honoured or, as in the case of the Canadian women's team, fall short of what the players believe they deserve.

The women didn't get everything they wanted, but they won huge gains. FIFA nearly quadrupled its total Women's World Cup fund — which covers prize money, team preparation and payments to players' clubs — from $40 million US in 2019 to $152 million. Some of that increase is due to the tournament's expansion from 24 teams to 32, and the women's prize pool remains a long way off from the $440 million FIFA doled out for last year's men's World Cup in Qatar, but that's still a big change from four years ago.

Perhaps more importantly, FIFA agreed last month to guarantee, for the first time, that a percentage of the women's prize money will go straight into players' pockets. All 732 of them in the upcoming tournament will get at least $30,000, with the opportunity to earn more based on how far they advance past the group stage. Players who make the round of 16 get $60,000,