Goalposts stand in a public soccer pitch in Berlin, June 1, 2014.

The 2014 Brazil World Cup opens on June 12 and fans around the globe are gearing up for the big tournament. But soccer lovers are not only preparing to watch the world's best professional players battle it out on the pitch; they are also out there kicking a ball about themselves. Reuters photographers on every continent, in countries from China to the Czech Republic, went out to capture images of soccer goalposts used by players to practice the "beautiful game."

Goalposts stand in a soccer field flooded by the waters of the Paraguay River, May 30, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands half buried in the ground after a major flood, at a stadium in Nemila, June 3, 2014.

Children play soccer on a playing field in Kirtipur, May 31, 2014.

Sheep graze in front of a soccer goalpost in Shuto Orizari, a shantytown near the capital Skopje, June 4, 2014.

A man plays soccer with migrant workers from Bangladesh and India at a street soccer court near a workers' dormitory (behind) in Singapore, June 3, 2014.

A makeshift soccer goalpost stands near Molweni, west of Durban, June 5, 2014.

A worker walks past a soccer goalpost at a playing field in Kamnik, June 2, 2014.

Two men kick a ball on a soccer field in front of a coking plant in the western city of Bottrop, June 2, 2014.

A broken soccer goalpost stands on a pitch in Wythenshawe Park near Manchester, northern England, March 29, 2014.

Men pose for a photograph in front of a goalpost in the Castro-Castro Prison in Lima, June 2, 2014.

Grass grows in front of a goalpost in downtown Zagreb, June 2, 2014.

A kite flies above a goalpost at a playing field in a slum on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, June 5, 2014.

A boy jumps to save a goal while playing soccer at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, June 3, 2014.

A local man trains on a goalpost at an athletic field at twilight in the town of Divnogorsk outside Russia's Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, June 2, 2014.

Players for "The Tuesdays" pose in a soccer goalpost at a training ground in Balham, south London, June 3, 2014.

A night football league player kicks a ball into a goal at the Westway Sports Center in London, June 3, 2014.

A boy jumps to save a goal while playing soccer on the beach in Benghazi, June 1, 2014.

A boy with a cricket bat gestures while playing near a soccer goalpost in a slum in Karachi, May 30, 2014.

A Swiss airline jet flies over a goalpost on a soccer pitch as it approaches to land at Zurich Airport in the town of Kloten, May 31, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands on a pitch in Luwan Sports Center in downtown Shanghai, May 30, 2014.

A photograph taken using long exposure shows a goalpost which has been illuminated with torches at a leisure facility in front of the European Central Bank (ECB) headquarters in Frankfurt, June 1, 2014.

The city skyline is seen through a soccer goalpost in Toronto, May 27, 2014.

A goalpost stands in Duillier near Geneva, May 30, 2014.

In a photograph taken using long exposure, a goalpost is illuminated by a flashlight at the Harpur's Hill housing estate in the town of Coleraine, May 28, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands at Pescadores beach in Chorrillos, Lima, June 2, 2014.

A goalpost stands in a field on the outskirts of Ronda, near Malaga, southern Spain June 5, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in a field in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, June 1, 2014.

Dogs walk past a goalpost on a foggy morning in the town of Lipljan, June 3, 2014.

A woman walks her dog past a soccer goalpost beside the Arakawa River in Tokyo, June 1, 2014.

A man walks a flock of geese past a soccer goalpost in Shuto Orizari, a shantytown near the capital Skopje, June 4,2014.

Children play in front of a soccer goalpost on a sports court in the Villa Urquiza neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, May 30, 2014.

A cathedral is seen through a soccer goalpost in Locorotondo, south of Bari, southern Italy, May 31, 2014.

A cow stands in front of a soccer goalpost in a field in Monnickendam, June 4, 2014.

Children practice their soccer skills in front a goalpost in Tunks Park in Sydney, May 28, 2014.

Children play near a soccer goalpost in a field in Olching near Munich, southern Germany, June 3, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in a sports field in Somerville, Massachusetts, June 2, 2014.

A goalpost stands in the village of Sasek Maly near Szczytno, north-eastern Poland, May 31, 2014.

A goalpost stands in the Independencia neighborhood of Monterrey, June 6, 2014.

Boys play soccer in a schoolyard in Minsk, June 4, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in a field in Rabat, June 3, 2014.

A goalpost stands in Cretelongue jail in Granges, Switzerland, May 30, 2014.

A goalkeeper jumps to save a goal during soccer practice in Vipolze, Slovenia, June 3, 2014.

Soccer goalposts stand in a playing field in Hackney Marshes in east London May 25, 2014.

A goalpost stands in a public training ground in Bern, June 1, 2014.

A goalpost is seen behind of the old Metropolitan Cathedral of Managua, June 4, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in Southorn playground in Hong Kong, May 30, 2014.

A man jumps to save a goal at dusk on a field in Bucharest June 1, 2014.

Boys stand next to a soccer goalpost in Sayidka in southern Mogadishu, June 2, 2014.

A goalpost stands in a sports field in Guernica, Basque Country, June 4, 2014.

Bedouin children play soccer in the village of al-Sira, one of the dozens of ramshackle Bedouin Arab communities in the Negev desert which are not recognized by the Israeli state, in southern Israel, June 2, 2014.

Dogs run past a soccer goalpost at dusk in Madrid, May 29, 2014.

A boy plays with a ball in front of a soccer goalpost in Juba, June 2, 2014.

A teenager plays soccer in front of a goalpost in an open area at the defunct Smokey Mountain garbage dump in Tondo city, metro Manila, June 5, 2014.

A soccer goalpost is seen in front of housing blocks in the district of Konkovo, Moscow, June 3, 2014.

A goalpost stands in an abandoned soccer field on the outskirts of Prague, May 31, 2014.

A man removes a netball goal from in front of a painted soccer goalpost at Chestnut Grove School in Balham, south London June 3, 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in a sports field in Lincoln Park in Chicago, May 30, 2014. The 2014 Brazil World Cup 2014.

A soccer goalpost stands in a field of FC Real in Kreuth, southern Germany, June 1, 2014.