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)

An actor holds a fake baby while waiting for the Wintershall Nativity play dress rehearsal to begin at Wintersall Estate on December 12, 2021 in Guildford, England. The Nativity play, which tells the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, has been performed annually since 1990 over the Christmas period by the Wintershall players. (Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Pupils from St Teilo’s Catholic Primary School in Tenby, South Wales, perform a scene from their Nativity play in the second decade of December 2023. The three kings, played by Jack Rigby, Santos Basilnomo and Tommy Leggett, pretended to follow a star on South Beach, a stone’s throw from the school. (Photo by Joann Randles/Cover Images)

A frightened maid, played by Phoebe Hodgson, knocks a bust off a tall pedestal while dusting, in a scene from the play “Queen High” at the Queen's Theatre. (Photo by Sasha/Getty Images). 1926

Yang Estrada, 5, plays with a crab on the street in La Panchita, Cuba on May 28, 2022. (Photo by Alexandre Meneghini/Reuters)

A girl plays in a waterlogged street following a heavy monsoon rainfall in Mumbai on June 9, 2021. (Photo by Sujit Jaiswal/AFP Photo)

A boy reacts as dogs play along the riverbank of Pasig river, in Manila, Philippines, June 10, 2021. (Photo by Lisa Marie David/Reuters)

Boys play cricket close to Karachi airport on December 15, 2022 in Karachi, Pakistan. (Photo by Matthew Lewis/Getty Images)