From Brussels to Rome, Italy's win in the World Cup final is being hailed not only as a sports triumph but also as a possible way to boost the country's sluggish economy.

Italy's national soccer team player Filippo "Pippo" Inzaghi celebrates their World Cup 2006 victory during celebrations at Circus Maximus in Rome July 10, 2006. [Reuters]

Sunday's tense 5-3 victory over France in a penalty shootout in Berlin could help Italy ease-up on planned budget cuts by boosting consumer confidence and increasing GDP, government officials say.

"We can certainly say it's worth more than half a point of GDP" said Economics Undersecretary Mario Lettieri. "We cannot make an exact prediction because it wouldn't be wise."

Effects from the morale boost appeared to be quickly felt on the stock market, where top teams in the wake of a match-fixing scandal in recent weeks had taken a beating, particularly Juventus, once Italy's blue chip soccer club and the major league champion in the last two seasons.

The Agnelli family, of the Fiat SpA car empire, owns a controlling stake in Juve, the Turin team which was heavily implicated in the scandal and risks demotion from Serie A along with three other clubs. On Monday, Juventus stock was up 5.7 percent at the end of the day.

While the scandal was spreading, Milan stock exchange authorities regularly suspended Juventus stock from trading to stop a freefall that saw the value tumble 30 percent at one point.

Praise for the Azzurri and high hopes for the effects of their victory also poured in from the European Union on Monday.

"We all congratulate Italy for its sterling performance," said Amelia Torres, spokeswoman for EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. "We certainly hope this victory will give a boost to the economic performance."

The Italian government last month approved interim budget measures worth euro7 billion (US$8.8 billion) as a step toward keeping Italy's pledge to the European Union to get the deficit below 3 percent of GDP by 2007.

The measures, which would raise money by fighting tax evasion and keeping spending under control, are only the first in a series of cuts worth about euro42 billion (US$53.7 billion) that are needed to stop the country's spiraling deficit.

Even before Italy clinched the title, Deputy Economics Minister Vincenzo Visco said that a victory would boost GDP and consumer confidence and could mean the budget cuts would be lighter.

"The interim budget measures will still be necessary, but maybe it will be smaller," Visco said in a radio interview last week after the Azzurri had beaten host nation Germany to advance to the final. "After the World Cup, people spend more. They become more optimistic."

But not all agreed on the fringe benefits of Italy's victory, with some analysts warning that there is little evidence of such an effect.

On average, countries that win the World Cup grow less in the year of their victory than in the previous and successive one, economist Tito Boeri wrote in Turin-based La Stampa. Their GDP growth is usually lower than that of the country defeated in the final, Boeri wrote.

If anything, the victory of the hardworking, no-frills national squad will provide politicians with a role-model to present Italians with as they fall hard times, he wrote.

"We'll need this victory to face with the right spirit a very difficult phase, remaining united and creating a group just like we did at the World Cup in Germany."

Premier Romano Prodi also said that any effects on growth remain to be seen, but added that the final had certainly put Italy in the spotlight.

"I don't know how it will influence GDP," Prodi told La Repubblica daily after Sunday's game. "But a billion and a half people have seen Italy win."

One Italian company that may not be overjoyed by the Azzurri's win is electronics chain Media World, which promised customers who bought a new TV to give out coupons for other merchandise equal to the value of the purchase if Italy won the World Cup.

Some 10,000 people now qualify to receive about euro10 million (US$12.7 million) worth of coupons, said Sara Milazzo, a spokeswoman for Mediamarket, the retailer's holding company.

The company says it will be able to pay up thanks to insurance it took out for the promotion.

"It's a calculated risk," Milazzo told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We were all rooting for Italy."