Several years ago, when Mr. Quraishi worked at Condé Nast and Mr. Kirby was at GQ, the two used to play soccer together on Wednesdays at Pier 40 in Manhattan. “He’s a goalkeeper, I’m an attacker,” Mr. Quraishi said. “We had a good partnership.”

Soon they decided to combine their professional and sporting passions and start Howler.

Similarly, Robert Priest, one of the founders of Eight by Eight, describes himself as a “West Londoner who has strangely always been passionate about Manchester United.” Mr. Priest, 67, has been living in the United States since 1979, and has coached his two sons in youth soccer.

But passion doesn’t pay the bills. Howler got its start with $69,000 from Kickstarter and “pretty sizable” support through advertising by Nike and beIN Sport, the Al Jazeera-affiliated sports network, Mr. Quraishi said. He is the only full-time staff member, which keeps costs down. After a little more than a year, Howler has published three issues, with the fourth coming in early January, and Mr. Quraishi said subscriptions, which cost $50, are approaching 5,000 and increasing with each issue.

Asked why he was confident the magazine could make it, Mr. Priest pointed to the years of financial success he has had in designing magazines, most recently with his partner Grace Lee, at Priest & Grace. Their client list includes Esquire; Forbes; O, the Oprah Magazine; and Bloomberg.

Mr. Priest and Ms. Lee, who are also partners in the magazine, said they had financing in the “six figures” to start their magazine, and that the first issue’s print run was 4,500 copies.