The weird to the wonderful— football pitches of the world

Playing football, nothing could be simpler, right? All you need is a ball, a few players and — a pitch.

Around the world and whatever the landscape, football grounds abound — and are as varied and diverse as the people who play on them.

Perched on top of a Japanese department store, lost on a dusty mountain trail in Nepal or nestled at the foot of an ancient aqueduct in Rome.

Where there is a love of football, there will always be a pitch.

In football-mad Brazil, pitches are crammed between crowded neighbourhoods in big cities like Sao Paolo or swallowed in Rio´s Tavares Bastos favela by buildings piled up like a house of unsteady cards.

In New York´s Brooklyn, footballers play by the waterside with the Statue of Liberty for backdrop. Seoul´s nightlife includes a pitch ablaze with light on a rooftop above a shopping centre.

In Switzerland players drink in the beauty of mountains and valleys with Lac Leman in the distance.

The Arctic circle boasts Henninsvaer FC´s ground, whose green synthetic turf is squeezed between Norway´s snow capped mountains and icy seas.

In Turin, a local pitch nestles atop a building among church spires and reddish-brown rooftops while in Rugeley, central England, teams play beneath the massive cooling towers of a huge coal-fired power station.