As Russia puts the finishing touches to the carefully manicured fields that will host the World Cup from next week, people around the globe are playing soccer on a surprising variety of makeshift pitches. Off the coast of an island in southern Thailand, they play on a floating platform; in the mountains of northern Italy, they kick about in the snow – images captured by Reuters photographers around the world. Here: Local residents play soccer on the top floor of a parking garage in Jakarta, Indonesia, May 4, 2018. (Photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters)

A visitor and an employee dressed as Snegurochka (Snow Maiden), the granddaughter of Ded Moroz (Russian equivalent of Santa Claus), pose for a picture inside an upside down house, constructed as an attraction for local residents and tourists and located at the Royev Ruchey Park of Flora and Fauna in the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, December 7, 2016. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

“Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London with 1,074,300 residents (2011 census), an increase of 96,000 over the previous decade. The city lies within the West Midlands conurbation, the third most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a population of 2,440,986 (2011 census) of which the Birmingham built-up area was 1,085,810. Its metropolitan area is the United Kingdom's second most populous with 3,683,000 residents”. – Wikipedia. (Photo by Adrian Saker)

A Carlsbad,Calif. police officer turns traffic away as flames leap behind him Wednesday, May 14, 2014, in Carlsbad, Calif. Weather conditions that at least temporarily calmed allowed firefighters to gain ground early Wednesday on a pair of wildfires that forced thousands of residents to leave their homes. (Photo by AP Photo)

Passengers climb to board an overcrowded train at a railway station in Dhaka August 8, 2013. Millions of residents in Dhaka are travelling home from the capital city to celebrate the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, which marks the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo by Andrew Biraj/Reuters)

Two women look at a mobile phone as they stand on Tiananmen Square during a sand storm in heavily polluted weather in Beijing on February 28, 2013. Beijing residents were urged to stay indoors as pollution levels soared before a sandstorm brought further misery to China's capital. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

It has become tradition in Wigan in Greater Manchester, United Kingdom for residents to go out on the town in fancy dress for Boxing Day on Sunday, December 26, 2021. Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide. (Photo by Joel Goodman/London News Pictures)

Nertil Marcelin, leader of a community group, distributes machetes to residents in an initiative to resist gangs seeking to take control of their neighborhood, in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Saturday, May 13, 2023. (Photo by Joseph Odelyn/AP Photo)