Without a doubt, the 2010 World Cup of soccer in South Africa was a great experience for both soccer fans, who enjoyed a safe and efficiently-run tournament, and their South African hosts. The sporting and social spectacle was broadcast around the world and focused unprecedented media attention...

This contribution provides an ex post analysis of the economic impacts of the two most recent single-country World Cups (WCs), Germany 2006 and France 1998. Based on macroeconomic indi-cators, the experiences of these WCs appear to be in line with existing empirical research on large sporting...

For the FIFA World Cup 2010, South Africa plans to invest heavily. The positive economic effects that the country is hoping for stand in contrast to almost all statistical ex-post studies. This contribution emphasises that these results, usually from research under-taken in the USA, can only be...

The paper provides a first ex post analysis of the financial burden and economic benefits of the World Cup in Germany 2006. On the usual cost-benefit measures, the experience of WC 2006 appears to be in line with existing empirical work on large sporting events and sport stadia which rarely...