LAF launches Dubai edition

A lifestyle magazine for men focusing on the lives of football players aptly named LAF (Life After Football) launched the Dubai edition on Tuesday in the presence of many celebrities, including former Dutch stars Patrick Kluivert, Ronaldo de Boer and Winston Bogarde.

Launched in Europe six months ago by a group of retired professional footbalers from Holland, LAF targets men who love sports, fashion and a great lifestyle.

"We don't sell the magazine. We send it exclusively to a group of people. For example, all the villas in Dubai will get the magazine for free," said Robin van Kampen, Publishing Director of LAF in the UAE speaking to Emirates Business. It is a quarterly issue with 30,000 copies being printed.

Asked why they chose Dubai, van Kampen said: "The whole Gulf region is very football minded. They can't even walk normally on the streets. If you turn on television at night, in six channels there is football."

"The magazine is all about professional football players. How their lifestyle looks not how they play the ball or shoot. It's about how they live their lives, what cars they like, how they drive and what destinations they like to go," said van Kampen adding that an Arabic edition is in the pipeline.

"We already got requests to come to Abu Dhabi as well. Our goal also is to go to Saudi Arabia, ofcourse in Arabic," he said.

On whether people would be interested in reading the lifestyles of football players, van Kampen, 27, who played youth side of Dutch team Ajax, said: "If you look at marketing campaigns of big brands say Pepsi, what's on Pepsi cover is a football player. Why because he is the hero and icon. If you look in every commercial of a car or watch brands, they all take the football players as the marketing tool. Basically it [LAF] is for sportminded men with a sporting lifestyle."

"The contents what we have is unique. Esquire is our only main competitior at the moment. Despite the crisis we are still making growth," he said.

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