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 spoonbill appears to creep across the sky as it comes in to land on a nearby branch in the Orlando Wetlands, Florida in the second decade of June 2024. (Photo by Deborah Sandidge/Solent News)

In this photo taken Thursday January 17, 2013, sled dogs Poncho, left, and his blind brother Gonzo are hooked up for a run at the Muddy Paw Sled Dog Kennel, in Jefferson, N.H. Poncho has taken to helping his blind brother on regular runs. (Photo by Jim Cole/AP Photo)

Students wearing mask hold hands to surround the St. Stephen's Girls' College in Hong Kong, Monday, September 9, 2019. Thousands of demonstrators in Hong Kong urged President Donald Trump to “liberate” the semiautonomous Chinese territory during a peaceful march to the U.S. Consulate on Sunday, but violence broke out later in the business and retail district as police fired tear gas after protesters vandalized subway stations, set fires and blocked traffic. (Photo by Kin Cheung/AP Photo)

Coast and marine winner: Storm Gull (Lesser black-backed gull), New Haven, East Sussex. (Photo by Craig Denford/British Wildlife Photography Awards)

A row of abandoned oil tanks is filled with creepers on the riverside of Liyun River in Huai 'an, East China's Jiangsu Province, May 9, 2023. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

“Gloucester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Peter and the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, in Gloucester, England, stands in the north of the city near the river. It originated in 678 or 679 with the foundation of an abbey dedicated to Saint Peter (dissolved by King Henry VIII)”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A general view of Gloucester Cathedral is seen on March 22, 2012 in Gloucester, England. With only a few months to go until the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic games, Britain's tourist industry is hoping to benefit from the influx of athletes, officials and visitors. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Rows of blossoming peach trees line the fields of Aitona, in the province of Lleida, north eastern Spain, on March 22, 2025. Every year in March the thousands of hectares of blossoming peach trees create a sort of nature tourism with hundreds of people visiting the area to take in the colorful blossoms. (Photo by Josep Lago/AFP Photo)