South Korea, the country which will share the venues for this summer's competition, is expected to generate about $9bn (EUR10bn).
But both predictions have been criticised by Dr Stefan Szymanski, a reader of economics at Imperial College, London. He told the Financial Times newspaper: "If national associations are trying to claim constantly that there is a huge benfit to hosting international events like the World Cup they will face a credibility gap."
"The main benficiaries of these events are private corporations and individuals, rather than economies. The countries that have most to gain are emerging economies, rather than large economies, like Japan."
