Sport magazine to mark World Cup with biggest ever issue

Sport magazine publishes the biggest issue in its four-year history this Friday, marking a dramatic turnaround almost exactly a year after the loss-making free weekly title was bought by UTV Media. The bumper 96-page issue, a World Cup special, will feature Eric Cantona in a cover-wrap advertisement for a new deodorant from L'Oreal's Men Expert range. It features interviews with England goalkeeper David James, Argentina striker Lionel Messi, Portugal midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo and Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta. Advertisers that have signed up so far include Umbro, Nike, Adidas, 888Sport.com, Nivea, Nissan & McCoys. Belfast-based UTV Media, owner of TalkSport, reached a deal to buy the loss-making title from Sport Media & Strategie in May last year after the French-based group went into administration . Sport halted publication between 3 April and 12 June last year, meaning this Friday's bumper issue is almost a year to the day since UTV relaunched the title. Adam Bullock, the managing director of UTV's sales house, UTV Pitch, said: "When we acquired Sport it was already an established and well respected media brand that was widely recognised, but commercially it was failing. There are more than 40 pages of ads, including advertorials, sponsorships and display ads." Last month UTV Media said that Sport had moved back into profitability in the first four months of this year, turning around a £300,000 loss on the title in 2009. Sport magazine is distributed by hand at London's tube and mainline rail stations and at gyms and offices throughout the country to about 300,000 readers weekly. The magazine launched in the UK in September 2006. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. • If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".