World Cup 2006 Economics

Team Italia have been crowned World Cup 2006 champions and the biggest party in Germany since the Wall fell is over. After a month of partying with and playing host to the world, the nation of Germany must face a long economic morning after. So who won and lost the long-term World Cup 2006?

Pre-tournament the outlook was rosy on and off the field. As Jürgen Klinsmann whipped his methodical machine into playing form, �4.6 billion (approximately US $5.75 billion) worth of infrastructural development molded the German nation into a slick guest house with all the amenities. Adidas-Salomon predicted a whopping �1.2 billion in soccer gear sales for the year, with 15 million World Cup 2006 replica footballs to be sold. A much publicized study based on German Chamber of Commerce and Deutsche Postbank forecasted a bump to the German economy of �10 billion (approximately US $12.5 billion), a number representing 0.5% of the economy's total domestic performance. The study also said that World Cup 2006 could help create 10,000 to 20,000 permanent jobs.

Now that the last penalty kick has been taken, predictions can be blown away and we sift through statistics. The most damning economic statistic from World Cup 2006? Despite visits from an incredible two million tourists (full-on double the expected number) spending �600 million (approximately US $766 million), the country's Institute for Economic Research has new data showing that German economic growth will be approximately 0.25%, half the expected amount. Since Germany's economic growth was predicted to be 1.6% this year, the overestimation of World Cup 2006 income is bound to haunt German politicos for a while.

Essentially apologizing for poor immediate short-term results German Minister of the Economy Michael Glos wrote in the business daily Handelsblatt that 50,000 jobs had been created and only half were temporary, slightly more than planned. However, the best results he saw were that World Cup 2006 "[marked] an enormous gain in Germany's image."