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)

Gong Yan of Team China flies out of the gate at the Para Alpine Skiing Men's Super Combined Super-G Standing at Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Centre during day three of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics on March 07, 2022 in Yanqing, China. (Photo by Joel Marklund for OIS/PA Wire)

U.S. singer Katy Perry slips on the icing of a giant cake that she had jumped onto as part of her performance at the MTV Latin America Awards in Guadalajara, in this October 16, 2008 file photo. (Photo by Daniel Aguilar/Reuters)

An Afghan girl makes a pile of unbaked bricks near the road passing through the Shamali Plains, about 10 kilometers (6 miles), west of Bagram, Afghanistan, Wednesay April 9, 2003. Children assist parents in their job to supplement family income. (Photo by Gurinder Osan/AP Photo)

Gas-masked men of the British Machine Gun Corps with a Vickers machine gun during the first battle of the Somme, 1916. (Photo by General Photographic Agency/Getty Images)

American influencer and former artistic gymnast Olivia Dunne walks the runway at the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Runway Show at W South Beach on May 31, 2025 in Miami Beach, Florida. (Photo by Ivan Apfel/Getty Images)

Tourists take shelter from the sudden heavy rain following the impact of Typhoon Danas on July 8, 2025 in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province of China. East China's Zhejiang Province has elevated its typhoon emergency response to Level III at 10 a.m. on July 7 as Typhoon Danas, the fourth typhoon of this year, moves closer. (Photo by Lin Yunlong/Zhejiang Daily Press Group/VCG via Getty Images)

Waves crash against the lighthouse in Seaham Harbour, County Durham in northeast England on Friday, November 24, 2023. (Photo by Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images)