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 golden lion tamarin monkey holds its newly born baby at a zoo in Jerusalem, Thursday, March 22, 2018. Golden lion tamarins are among the rarest animals in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. It is listed as endangered according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. (Photo by Sebastian Scheiner/AP Photo)

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” costars Andrew Garfield and American actress and singer Zendaya reunite with a hug at the 2023 SAG Awards on Sunday, February 26, 2023, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

As national soccer teams and the photographers who have been covering them start to trickle home from the Brazil World Cup, it’s time to revisit the “On the Sidelines” project. This Reuters Pictures project was billed as a chance for photographers to share “their own quirky and creative view of the World Cup”. Photo: People watch from outside as a dancer performs inside a bar in Porto Alegre June 21, 2014. In a project called “On The Sidelines” Reuters photographers share pictures showing their own quirky and creative view of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. (Photo by Marko Djurica/Reuters)

Kazakhstan, Belgium and Japan compete in the men’s 5000m relay final B during the ISU World Short Track Speed Skating Championships at the Ahoy Arena on 17 March 2024 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/International Skating Union/Siena awards festival 2025)

United States' Mikaela Shiffrin feeds a deer on the podium after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup slalom, in Levi, Finland, Saturday, November 15, 2025. Photo by Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva via Reuters)

A boy wearing a dress-up costume to mark the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, which is a celebration of the Jews' salvation from genocide in ancient Persia, walks on a street in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem on February 24, 2021. (Photo by Ammar Awad/Reuters)