Analyzing the impact of the 2010 Soccer World Cup on South Africa: A Synthetic Control Method

Busani Moyo and Tendai Gwatidzo

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: The announcement of South Africa as the 2010 host of the FIFA World Cup in 2004 was a triumphant moment for the country and the African continent. It marked the first time in FIFA's history that the World Cup would be hosted by an African country. We use synthetic control method to create counterfactual South Africa without the World Cup and compare it with actual South Africa to analyse the impact of this tournament. Our results show that although hosting the world cup games in 2010 had no positive effects on GDP it significantly increased tourism inflows. We however find evidence that GDP did increase during the period after announcing that South Africa would host the tournament to a year before the tournament. This suggests that the analysis of these events should focus on both the year the event is held as well as the period immediately after host announcement.

Keywords: FIFA World Cup; South Africa; GDP; Tourism; Synthetic Control Method (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C31 C33 E23 L83 O11 O55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-01, Revised 2025-10
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Published in Journal of Sports Economics 2.27(2025): pp. 233-278

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:128789

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