It's Coming Home - Brenda gets World Cup Fever

Rakhee and Heather tackle England's full-back dilemma, Japan's 100-year plan to win the World Cup and whether football really is coming home...

Just kidding.

Well... a little bit.

What we actually do is ask whether the biggest sporting event on Earth is really worth the billions spent hosting it.

Does the FIFA World Cup genuinely transform economies? Are the promised tourism booms real? Is winning the tournament actually better for a country's finances than hosting it?

Along the way we somehow end up discussing Taylor Swift, Ryan Reynolds, Barcelona, Wrexham, Olympic legacies and why economists are the people least likely to believe the hype.

There's also Brenda's Sporting Economics Quiz, where Heather discovers that football trivia is much easier when there aren't any football questions.

Whether you're a lifelong football fan or someone who only tunes in when England are involved, this episode is less about tactics and more about the business behind the beautiful game.

Sources:

Goldman Sachs International (Kevin Daly & Mambuna Njie)https://www.sgieurope.com/sporting-events/world-cup-2026-big-event-small-economic-impact/121493.article

FIFA / WTO GoalEconomy & OpenEconomicshttps://inside.fifa.com/organisation/media-releases/fifa-wto-study-estimates-usd-47-billion-economic-output-from-fifa-club-world

Victor Matheson (College of the Holy Cross)https://www.sgieurope.com/sporting-events/world-cup-2026-big-event-small-economic-impact/121493.article