February, 2011 cover 200th edition, featuring Ryan Giggs and Alan Shearer |
|
| Editor | David Hall |
|---|---|
| Categories | Football |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Circulation | 90,077 / month |
| First issue | 1994 |
| Company | Haymarket |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English Bulgarian Korean Portuguese Swedish Turkish Indonesian Thai Polish |
| Website | Official site |
| ISSN | 1355-0276 |
FourFourTwo is a football magazine published by Haymarket. Published monthly, costing £4.50, and at about 164 pages long, it published its 200th edition in February 2011. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2, which is considered to be a basic, trustworthy and standard formation in English football; it has been one of the most popular formations for 11-a-side matches for several decades.
The Audit Bureau of Circulations reports that as of 2011 FourFourTwo had a Total Average Net Circulation Per Issue of 90,077. Of this:
In 2008, it was announced that FourFourTwo had entered into a three-year shirt sponsorship deal with Swindon Town, which commenced in the 2008–09 season.
Currently, the following high-profile people are amongst the regular contributors to FourFourTwo (UK edition):
Previously, the following high-profile people were amongst the regular contributors to FourFourTwo (UK edition):
Notable editors of FourFourTwo have included Mat Snow and Hugh Sleight. The founding editor was Karen Buchanan, now a journalist and presenter with BBC Radio Norfolk.
The magazine is split up as such:
The following four features are always in the first part of the magazine:
Upfront runs from about page 25 to 60 of the magazine, consisting of shorter interviews and regular features. It is often more comedy based than the rest of the magazine. Amongst others, it contains:
Between Up Front and Planet Football, so usually stretching from about page 60 to 125."Regular" features include:
This covers two main areas: UK football other than the Premiership and overseas football. It consists of a number of short interviews, features, and a results service. Among many reports from top-level football leagues across the globe, the section includes a report from James Richardson.
FourFourTwo launched an Australian edition in October 2005, to coincide with new A-League.
The launch publicity ran with the tagline of "It's footy, but not as you know it," a reference to the popularity of Australian rules football and rugby league and the fact that association football is referred to as soccer in Australia. This also referred to the launch slogan of the A-league: "It's football, but not as you know it" — part of the work Football Australia is doing to rebrand and relaunch the game. Further to this, the first edition's frontpage contained the motto "Goodbye Soccer, Hello Football." The launch party was attended by, amongst others, cricketer Ricky Ponting.
In 2009, the first issue of the Brazilian edition was published, by Brazilian publishing company Cadiz.
Mark Sterling has signed a contract with Haymarket Media Group. Mark Sterling has thus acquired the exclusive rights to publish FourFourTwo Magazine. The first issue was out on the Bulgarian market in April, 2010, having pre-World Cup information about the England national football team and coach Fabio Capello for its cover story. The first three issues contained extra materials, reviewing the 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups respectively. The Bulgarian edition incorporates articles from UK and international, as well as Bulgarian football.
In October 2010, the first issue of the Croatian edition was published.
In June 2010, the first issue of the Egyptian edition was published, by Egyptian publishing company Omedia.
In 2009, the first issue of the Indonesian edition was published, by PT Tunas Bola.
In June 2007, the first issue of the South Korean edition was published, by Korean publishing company MediaWill. The Korean edition contains many articles on domestic football, which normally take up about half of the 190-pages per issue.
The price is W6,800. Although the English edition is imported in Korean market, it costs W16,000 and therefore has a very limited market share.
In 2009, Measat publications took over the license of the Malaysian edition. On August 11, 2009, a weekly FourFourTwo TV Show began on affiliated television station, Astro SuperSport, hosted by former ESPN anchor Jason Dasey.
In 2006, the first issue of the Nigerian edition was published. In May 2008, the relaunched edition came on board with the veteran editor Samm Audu as the editor. The senior staff writer is Ikenwa Nnabuogor. It's currently the biggest-selling soccer magazine in West Africa. It also sells in South Africa.
In May 2010, the first issue of the Polish edition will be published by Ginza Media Group.
In April 2008, the first issue of the Swedish edition was published.
In November 2009, the first issue of the Thai edition was published, by Plus One Media Co., Ltd. In 3rd Day Of The Month For Every Month.
In April 2006, the first issue of the Turkish edition was published.
In May 2010, the first issue of the Vietnamese edition was published by Le Media.