World Soccer Magazine (WSM) is a long running (perhaps longest) international football magazine. The title reflects pretty much its aim except that they annoyingly use the word 'Soccer' instead of football despite the publication being British and having little to do with the U.S . Oh well, ... Read review
Advantages: Wonderful analysis and insight and pleasing to read and very detailed Disadvantages: Monthly publication makes it seem out of context at times.
World Soccer Magazine (WSM) is a long running (perhaps longest) international football magazine. The title reflects pretty much its aim except that they annoyingly use the word 'Soccer' instead of football despite the publication being British and having little to do with the U.S . Oh well, it's a corporate world we live in I suppose we just have to accept that fact.
I began buying this magazine around the turn of the millenium when ... ...had appeared on the front World Soccer Magazine. The first page as I remember it always contained a small introduction by the Editor (esteemed writer Gavin Hamilton) outlining the focus of the current edition of the magazine.
The great thing about this magazine is that it has every inch of the globe covered. If there is a meaning football match played anywhere at any time you will find it somewhere in the WSM. Of course the magazine ... more
World Soccer Magazine (WSM) is a long running (perhaps longest) international football magazine. The title reflects pretty much its aim except that they annoyingly use the word 'Soccer' instead of football despite the publication being British and having little to do with the U.S . Oh well, it's a corporate world we live in I suppose we just have to accept that fact.
I began buying this magazine around the turn of the millenium when avid football fans may realise, that Italian league football (Serie A) was taken off our screens. Being in the pre-sky digital era I was forced to keep up to date on the latest happenings by course of this excellent monthly publication.
The magazine always profiled a singular player at the front. This would usually be the player who was the most famed or publisiced player at the time of printing. Hence going down the years almost every great player of any era had appeared on the front World Soccer Magazine. The first page as I remember it always contained a small introduction by the Editor (esteemed writer Gavin Hamilton) outlining the focus of the current edition of the magazine.
The great thing about this magazine is that it has every inch of the globe covered. If there is a meaning football match played anywhere at any time you will find it somewhere in the WSM. Of course the magazine gives greater emphasis on the more established leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany etc..). The whole purpose of the magazine is to go look at football with a more strategic and anylitical look. We get many interviews from major footballing stars who are always quizzed on more serious issues of the game (and not on stuff like hairstyles and cars).
One of the main features was team of the month, when the magazine's experts would get together and judge the best 11 players from all of the leagues (across Europe). Why is this a good feature? Well ask any football fan and they will tell you they know better than any manager about team selection. However we often think we know more than we actually do, so this feature has a lot of us eating humble pie.
The quality of journalism is really high and there are few colomns that you read that have you thinking 'what is he on about?'. The magazine has a feature profiling young footballing prospects.I can remember many of todays top players (Ronaldinho, Messi etc..) appearing in this section before I had ever heard about them.
There are a few critcisms that can be made of WSM, however many of the drawbacks of the magzine do not lie within their control. As with nearly all series publications the internet has made magazine such as this lose much of its appeal. Why wait for a month when you can get instant information from around the globe and for free all on the net. The content can seem a bit outdated in particular the reviews of particular tournaments. Which often appeared a month after they had been completed and usually were long forgotton (Like World Cup 2006, anyone still remember that? Oh yeah England lost!).
The magazine has increased in size of the years and unsuprisingly in cost aswell. Some may see the magazine as quite small given its cost (around 3 pound a copy) but it only concentrates on high quality articles and features so this is not suprising.
Regardless of the impact of the internet, this magazine has stood the test of time and has still managed to stay popular. It has high quality features every month and keeps you up to date with the latest happenings in world football.
------------------------------------------------------------- Magazine Statistics ------------------------------------------------------------- Readers: Male 90%, Female 10% Average Age: 30 Circulation: 45, 497 Readership: 372,000 -------------------------------------------------------------
Advantages: Comprehensive Disadvantages: Little mention of England barring Manchester United's name every page or so
...that have not heard of World Soccer, admiteddly it gets no special billing nor does it advertise heavily, it is the journal through which the prestigious World Player of the Year award is awarded. This is separate from the FIFA player of the Year, but about equal in importance and prestige to the players, which says quite a lot.
The magazine is comfortably the best in its field, with a world service section in the middle which attempts to keep you ... ...littered with results from various World Cup Qualifying groups, but at other times has different emphasis.
Looking at the April 2001 issue which I purchased recently, one of the main features is a rare interview with the fine Real Madrid and Spain star Raul - so influential indeed that he is paid circa 125,000 pounds a week, and to lure him into moving clubs the minimum fee that Real Madrid would consider (due to a clause in Spanish law every player's ...
BIGHORSE 30.03.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of World Soccer Magazine
Advantages: Very comprehensive Disadvantages: Are there many football fans who wish to know so much
...been a regular reader of World Soccer for over 20 years now. When I first started to get the magazine the football world was indeed very different. Almost all the national leagues of Europe had players from within that country playing in the league. International transfers did happen but they were very rare and usually consisted of world class players moving to Italy. Nowadays World Soccer could be a working title for a magazine which only covered ... ...world. For the most part World Soccer still does what it has always done and gives coverage of football played outside the UK.
However it is not only the broadcasting of football which has changed. Where there very few soccer magazines 20 years ago there are now a huge number including those which cater for the interests of only one club. The issue for World Soccer is simple, is there a market for such a specialist magazine. My view is that World ...
polydeuces 20.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of World Soccer Magazine
Advantages: Big names,Big stories, Wide range of leagues covered worldwide, Limited advertising Disadvantages: Only one edition for each season(ie 4 per year)
...standards, £2.70 for a well-prepared and perennialy useful is not too much to ask. Whilst they will be making a very healthy profit I feel that you will still be getting good value for money. Give it a try if you are interested in the goings on in world football! ...
SMacdonald 07.07.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of World Soccer Magazine
Advantages: great range of coverage Disadvantages: A little Anoracky
...football from all over the world and it has always frustrated me that non-European leagues and internationals have had, at most, minimal coverage in the British media. The coverage that does exist, such as Sky Sports ‘Futball Mundial, is hopelessly truncated and often outdated. The antidote to this is to buy World Soccer, a monthly magazine costing £2.60. Inside you will find all the statistics from every national league and cup competition ... ...league is analysed in detail. You will also find all the transfer news and managerial comings and goings. There are profiles of teams ranging from Obilic of Yugoslavia to our own tractor boys of Ipswich, as well as interesting features on players from all over the world.
I have to say that because of the depth of coverage, this is not a particularly fun read. This is a purely functional publication, but anoraks will love it and so will the many ...
aprose 09.02.2001 (03.02.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of World Soccer Magazine
Advantages: Heaps of information. Disadvantages: Quantity over quality.
...but as a soccer fan I would buy Soccer International over this any day. I also think Soccer International has better info tha World Soccer. It is a case of quality over quantity for me. If I were you, I'd give World Soccer a miss.4/10 ...
stuartpeters 02.04.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of World Soccer Magazine
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