London Stadium transformed into baseball ground for New York Yankees v Boston Red Sox

It's the home of a Premier League football club and hosted the best athletes in the world during the 2012 Olympic Games.

Now the London Stadium has been transformed into a baseball ground as two of the sport's biggest clubs prepare for a historic series in the capital.

The venue, where West Ham play their home games, is hosting two matches between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox this Saturday and Sunday.

It will be the first time Major League Baseball (MLB) has ventured into Europe for regular season games, having previously played in Mexico, Japan, Australia, and Puerto Rico.

England and Manchester City footballer Raheem Sterling met some of the players at the stadium as they got used to their new surroundings on Friday.

The Duke of Sussex is due to attend the series in support of the Invictus Games Foundation, with former competitors from both the USA and UK set to take part as the ceremonial first pitch is thrown.

The Yankees currently top the American League West division, with reigning World Series champions Boston in third place.

Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes said: "It's one of the biggest rivalries that we have going over to play the first games in Europe. At the end of the day, though, it is a business trip.

"Those are two big games for us, given where we are in the standings and where they are."

More than 141,900 square feet of artificial turf has been installed on top of the grass surface at the London Stadium to create the diamond shaped baseball field.

Four hundred metres of fencing have been installed, while a batter's eye - the screen placed in the line of sight of a baseball batter - batting cages, dugouts and temporary clubhouses have also been built.

Clay for the pitcher's mound and home plate area and 345 tonnes of dirt for the infield diamond have been shipped from the US, while the fence padding for the field's perimeter has been brought in from Canada.

The transformation began on 6 June and was completed on Tuesday.

Once the series is completed, it is expected to take five days to return the ground to its normal state, in preparation for the new Premier League season, which begins on 9 August.

The MLB games in London follow the success of other American sports in the UK including NFL matches at Wembley Stadium and NBA basketball at the O2 Arena.