England in £400m clash with Uruguay for World Cup

Posted Wednesday, June 18, 2014 by Dailystar.co.uk

ENGLAND’S crucial World Cup clash with Uruguay is worth a staggering £400million to the UK economy.

PRESSURE: The longer Roy Hodgson's boys stay in the World Cup, the bigger the economic benefit

If the Three Lions lose they will be hot favourites to get the boot from the tournament.

Experts said the competition had already given businesses a £2bn boost as the nation got behind Roy Hodgson’s team.

And each week they stay in the competition will mean another £200m in sales.

But if they do not make it out of their group then stores, bars and restaurants will miss out on another fortnight of ringing tills.

BIG BUISNESS: Sales of TVs has doubled at retailers Tesco

The food, drink, sportswear, memorabilia, TV and barbecue sales bonanza will grind to a halt and the country’s recent economic recovery could be threatened.

UK economist Dr Howard Archer revealed: “The better England do and the more games they play the bigger the potential beneficial impact to retail sales.

"So retailers will be hoping that England still manage to get through the group stages despite losing to Italy. If England do well it could give a boost to consumer confidence.” England in £400m clash with Uruguay for World Cup

But he warned that if England crash out then people would not spend the money they would have blown backing Roy’s boys.

He added: “There will be a lot of England paraphernalia available at reduced prices in bargain bins.”

Dr Archer said the tournament had given the High Street shops a shot in the arm. John Lewis reported a 47% year-on-year rise in TV sales as fans upgraded their sets to watch the matches.

Tesco said widescreen TV sales had almost doubled recently.

And Mark Antipof, chief sales and marketing officer for Visa Europe, said supermarket spending on credit cards had soared 9% since the tournament began.

Over the England v Italy weekend fans spent £701m in supermarkets .

The fact the match is an economic as well as a sporting D-Day has added an extra edge to the build-up.

Meanwhile, England’s Daniel Sturridge, 24, said he had stopped swapping texts with Liverpool team-mate Luis Suarez, who will lead Uruguay’s strike force.

Steven Gerrard, 34, and Jordan Henderson, 24, are also blanking their club colleague.

Suarez, 27, has admitted he and his team mates were “botija”, or streetwise scoundrels, who will use any trick in the book to win.

Uruguay fans are expected to outnumber England supporters more than two to one in the stadium.