<div><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Thousands of football fans marched over the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Sunday to mark 25 days before the Women's World Cup starts in Australia and New Zealand.</b><br></div><div><br></div><div>Football's governing body FIFA estimated around 4,000 braved chilly temperatures to take part in the early morning event on the famed bridge, which was temporarily closed to traffic.</div><div><br></div><div>Co-hosts Australia and New Zealand kick off the 32-team tournament on July 20 when the Matildas play Ireland in Sydney and the Football Ferns face Norway in Auckland.</div><div><br></div><div>FIFA says more than one million tickets have been sold for the 64 games in nine host cities, surpassing total sales for the 2019 World Cup in France.</div><div><br></div><div>FIFA official Rhiannon Martin told AFP she expected this year's tournament would be a "milestone" for women's football in Australia.</div><div><br></div><div>"We've seen how women's football has developed here over the last years," added Martin, who is head of FIFA Women's World Cup.</div><div><br></div><div>FIFA has said each player at the World Cup will earn at least $30,000, with the winners taking home $270,000 apiece.</div><div><br></div><div>Martin said the boost to the prize money pot showed that "women's football is really being valued".</div><div><br></div><div>James Johnson, chief executive of Football Australia, told AFP it "starts to bridge the gap" between prize money for the men's and women's World Cup.</div><div><br></div><div>"We still have a bit of work to do over the next four years, but being the World Cup where the lift occurred makes us very proud," he added. AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/kh</div>