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It is hard to deny that sports and economy are correlated whether is for the mutual benefit or detriment. Almost every country has its most popular and favourite sport. Baseball is for Japan, Cuba, and Korea. Football is for U.S., while Hockey is for Canada. Rugby is for Australia, and New Zealand. However, Soccer is for continent of Europe, Africa, Latin America, and recently, even China. It is undeniable that Soccer is arguably the most widespread sport all over the world, and beside those above-mentioned countries, there are still many more countries that Soccer is their most favourite sport. And, simultaneously, FIFA World CupTM, not inferior to the Olympics, is the biggest sport event in the global village that we are living in. Matter of fact, it is evident that the word ¡®World Cup¡¯ evokes Soccer to most people, while there is a World Cup for swimming, gymnastics, tennis, hockey, rugby, and etcetera¡¦. And naturally, FIFA World CupTM is an event that really affects one country¡¯s economy, especially the host country that event is held in. 2002 Korea/Japan FIFA World CupTM was the first World Cup that was held in Asia and first co-hosted World Cup ever in history. Of course, soccer fans and economists focused on how these countries will capably carry this enormous event. And consequently, they were quite amazed with the results. World Cup does give economical effects to its host country. Korea, one half of co-host of 2002 World CupTM, was overall benefited from special effects of the World Cup. Firstly, the World Cup effects affected Korean Stock market. This graph shows that how Korea performed well in the pre-World Cup season, comparing to the world¡¯s stock market, and co-host of 2002 World Cup, Japan. Korea World Cup Organizing Committee (KOWOC) has forecast that by just hosting the World Cup tournament, it will result in a 8.8 trillion Korean Won windfall and create 350,000 jobs. Although this forecast didn¡¯t really come through right after the World Cup, this kind of expectation did stimulate the Korean economy, which is also evident in the graph above. Similarly, two major Korean airline companies: Korean Airline, and Asiana Airline both faced some changes with the World Cup effects. Red line represents Korean Airline (KAL)¡¯s performance throughout last 2 years, and blue line is for Asiana Airline. As it is appeared, in the pre-World Cup period, which is before June 2002, both airline companies were steadily on the upswing. It is because people expected that there would be a higher demand in plane tickets from foreigners who are coming to see the World Cup games and support their country¡¯s national team.
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