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The story
“Soccer Clinic” (published by Baseball Magazine Sha), a specialist soccer magazine aimed at coaches of youth-level players, has announced it will cease publication after its January 2027 issue (on sale December 6). Launched in 1994, the magazine is closing the book on a 32-year run. On 5ch, many reactions were matter-of-fact (“print just doesn’t sell anymore”), while users rattled off the names of other soccer magazines that have gone on hiatus or folded over the years — including El Golazo and Soccer King — and discussion also turned to why baseball magazines seem to be surviving at a higher rate.
Sports Nippon [Oct 6, 2026, 11:51 AM]
The monthly magazine “Soccer Clinic” announced it will cease publication with its January 2027 issue, on sale December 6 this year. Publisher Baseball Magazine Sha and the magazine’s editorial team made the announcement on the 6th.
“Soccer Clinic” launched in 1994, delivering coaching methods and technical information to coaches and players in the youth development age groups.
Source: sponichi.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
It was published by Baseball Magazine Sha, you know (the company behind Weekly Baseball).
Simple as that — magazines just don't sell anymore.
Hang in there, Guitar Magazine.
Sad to see it go 😞
Honestly surprised a niche magazine like this lasted 32 years…
Honestly, they just ran out of material.
Impressive it held on for 32 years at all.
Japan is a baseball kingdom.
Case closed.
Soccer Magazine (Sakamaga) basically turned into a single-club fan publication.
Even the printed player guides became useless once the season started, with way too many transfers happening after kickoff.
Both Soccer Digest and Soccer Magazine used to be weeklies, you know.
Now the only weekly sports mags left are Baseball Magazine (Bemaga) and the pro wrestling one?
Useful or not, YouTube's also packed with training videos these days.
A boring monthly mag like this just isn't gonna sell lol
Might as well shut it down quickly and find different work.
Struggling against it is pointless.
And it's already a has-been magazine (owakon) anyway.
Presbyopia (age-related farsightedness) is brutal (´；ω；｀)
We're in an era where that stuff gets put out on social media and YouTube.
The coach interviews were actually good, but there's only so much you can say about coaching methods.
You've probably heard its nickname, "Sakkuri," at least.
I feel like Weekly Pro Wrestling is in trouble too, though.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT8HB-DbIAAyB7N.jpg
Latest issue of Pro Yakyu ai
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HT8HDFsbMAAk9hZ.jpg
Soccer ai went on hiatus back in 2016.
Soccer ai, what a creepy-looking magazine lol
Didn't sell and went on hiatus — makes sense lol
Wow, this is still around lol
Baseball's main target audience is elderly readers, so print media still has strength there.
Sports newspapers lead with baseball on the front page too, and if you look at who's actually buying them, it's basically only old folks.
That stuff's disappearing online too, but you're blaming the medium?
That's just denial.
Soccer magazines that went on hiatus or were discontinued:
Soccer Clinic
Soccer King
Footballista
El Golazo
Football Hihyo
Soccer Hihyo
World Soccer King
J.League Soccer King
Soccer Game King
Striker DX
World Soccer Magazine
That's way too many.
Soccer's seriously a dying genre at this point.
Wait, El Golazo is gone now?
You're missing Calcio 2002, Premiership Magazine, and World Soccer Graphic.
El Golazo moved entirely online.
Background and Key Points
Magazines ceasing publication is nothing unusual these days, and the thread brought up a string of other soccer specialist magazines that had already gone on hiatus, including Soccer King, Footballista, and El Golazo. Behind this trend is not only a decline in print subscribers but also the fact that coaching techniques can now be learned for free, or close to it, through YouTube and paid video services. Meanwhile, some in the thread suggested that baseball-related magazines have survived in relatively greater numbers because the core readership of sports newspapers skews toward older baseball fans, who have a stronger affinity for print media. It’s also worth noting — a point that’s easy to overlook — that “on hiatus” (kyuukan) differs from “discontinued” (haikan) in Japanese publishing: the former term is used specifically so the magazine code can be reused later, and doesn’t necessarily mean the end for good.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “Monthly Magazine “Soccer Clinic” Announces Hiatus, Closing the Book on 32 Years — “A Line Drawn Under Print Media”“.
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