THE ECONOMIC BENEFIT OF THE WORLD CUP FOR GERMANY WILL PROBABLY BE LESS THAT IT WAS FOR JAPAN - CO-HOST OF THE TOURNAMENT WITH SOUTH KOREA FOUR YEARS AGO, A FORMER FOOTBALL MANAGER SAID FRIDAY, DPA REPORTED. RAINER CALMUND, WHO USED TO MANAGE BUNDESLIGA CLUB BAYER LEVERKUSEN, SAID JAPAN'S GDP GREW BY 13 BILLION EUROS (16.5 BILLION DOLLARS) AS A RESULT OF THE WORLD CUP, WHILE GERMANY'S WAS EXPECTED TO RECORD A 10-BILLION-EURO GAIN. JAPAN HAD LEARNED A LOT FROM GERMANY AS FAR AS THE SPORTING ASPECT OF FOOTBALL GOES, SAID CALMUND, WHO WAS SPEAKING AT THE JAPAN 2006 ECONOMIC GATHERING IN DUSSELDORF. BUT IN TERMS OF ORGANIZATION AND SECURITY, GERMANY HAD PROFITED FROM JAPAN'S WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE, HE SAID. "THE JAPANESE WERE WORLD CHAMPIONS WHEN IT CAME TO SECURITY, ORGANIZATION AND HOSPITALITY," SAID CALMUND. JAPAN WAS ABLE TO PRESENT "A FIRST-CLASS INFRASTRUCTURE" AS FAR AS ITS STADIUMS WERE CONCERNED. "THE GERMANS COULDN'T STOP TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS," HE ADDED. CALMUND, WHO IS A WORLD CUP AMBASSADOR FOR THE STATE OF NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, SAID GERMANY HAD INVESTED 1.5 BILLION EUROS ITS 12 WORLD CUP STADIUMS. JAPAN IS ONE OF THE 32 PARTICIPATING NATIONS AT THIS YEAR'S WORLD CUP, WHICH KICKS OFF ON JUNE 9. THE JAPANESE TEAM IS DUE TO MOVE INTO ITS QUARTERS IN BONN NEXT FRIDAY. BONN IS JUST OVER AN HOUR'S DRIVE FROM DUSSELDORF, WHICH BOASTS ONE OF THE LARGEST JAPANESE COMMUNITIES IN EUROPE. SOME 8,000 JAPANESE LIVE IN THE DUSSELDORF AREA AND 520 JAPANESE FIRMS ARE LOCATED THERE.
