THIRTY-FIVE people have been injured after lightning struck a football pitch in Germany.

Four people are believed to have been seriously hurt after lightning struck during a children's football game in Hoppstaedten, western Germany.

The referee is reported to have been one of those injured.

It comes on the same day as four children were left fighting for life after being struck by lightening at a birthday party in a park in Paris.

Storm Elvira hit western Germany on Friday, bringing torrential rain and hail and flooding roads in some areas.