Mosconi Cup

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File:Mosconi Cup logo.jpg
Logo of the Mosconi Cup

The Mosconi Cup is an annual nine-ball pool tournament contested between teams representing Europe and the USA since 1994. The trophy is named after American player Willie Mosconi, and has been compared to the Ryder Cup in golf.[1] As of 2015, USA has won the tournament 11 times against 10 victories for Europe and one tie. The reigning champion is Team Europe.

Player selection

In its earliest days, the Mosconi Cup was created by Sky Sports and Matchroom Sport as an exhibition event to increase public awareness of pool in the United Kingdom. In the first year of competition some of the WPBA's top players played alongside the men in their respective teams. These included Franziska Stark from Germany, Allison Fisher from England, Jeanette Lee and Vivian Villarreal from the United States.

As time progressed, the event evolved from its exhibition nature into a much more serious and professional tournament, and earning a place in the event has acquired a great deal of prestige. Early on many snooker players participated, but of these only Steve Davis remained into the event's more serious era, bowing out when the event began to clash with snooker's UK Championship (for which he appeared as both a player and a BBC commentator).

After Davis' withdrawal, all players had to earn an invitation through their performances at other events, meaning that no more snooker players appeared until 2007, when Tony Drago earned a place by virtue of his performance on the European Pool Tour, and won the tournament's Most Valuable Player award for his unbeaten run in the singles matches.

Player appearances

The players to have appeared in the Mosconi Cup:[2]

Legend P = playing team member NP = non-playing member

Player representation

European nations

The total number of nations who have represented Europe is thirteen (in order of total representatives, alphabetically in the case of ties):

Number of players by country
15:   England 5:   Germany 4:   Netherlands 2:   Sweden 1:   Austria
1:   Finland 1:   France 1:   Greece 1:   Italy 1:   Malta
1:   Northern Ireland 1:   Republic of Ireland 1:   Russia 1:   Spain

American states

The total number of states who have represented the United States is twenty-one (in order of total representatives, alphabetically in the case of ties, Charlie Williams was born outside of the USA):

Number of players by state
4:   California 4:   Illinois 4:   Texas 3:   Michigan 3:   Kentucky
3:   North Carolina 3:   Pennsylvania 2:   New Jersey 2:   New York 1:   Florida
1:   Georgia 1:   Kansas 1:   Maine 1:   Maryland 1:   Mississippi
1:   Missouri 1:   Ohio 1:   Oklahoma 1:   South Dakota 1:   Tennessee
1:   Virginia

Tournament modifications

There have been rule changes and format changes throughout the tournament's brief history. These include, but are not limited to: "Non-playing captain" roles were introduced in the 2003 event; however these were removed in the 2004 tournament. In 2004 the doubles matches were re-formatted to be scotch doubles. In 2005, a 30-second shot clock was introduced, and caused controversy due to timing malfunctions. The 2006 tournament started with a team-versus-team match followed by two trebles matches. That year also saw the reintroduction of the non-playing captain role.

The 2009 tournament included several new features:[4]

  • No pairing in the doubles matches could be repeated.
  • The event included four blocks of consecutive matches, organized so that five slots were available for each side, in which every player was required to play exactly once.
  • In two singles matches, each player was selected by the opposing team captain.

Results table

Year Venue Victors Score Losers MVP Ref
1994 Romford, London, England  USA 16–12  Europe [5]
1995 Basildon, Essex, England  Europe 16–15  USA [6]
1996 Dagenham, London, England  USA 15–13  Europe [7]
1997 Bethnal Green, London, England  USA 13–8  Europe [8]
1998 Bethnal Green, London, England  USA 13–9  Europe [9]
1999 Bethnal Green, London, England  USA 12–7  Europe [10]
2000 Bethnal Green, London, England  USA 12–9  Europe [11]
2001 Bethnal Green, London, England  USA 12–1  Europe [12]
2002 Bethnal Green, London, England  Europe 12–9  USA [13]
2003 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  USA 11–9  Europe Finland Mika Immonen [14][15]
2004 Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands  USA 12–9  Europe United States Rodney Morris [16][17]
2005 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  USA 11–6  Europe United States Earl Strickland [18][19]
2006 Rotterdam, Netherlands  Tied 12–12  Tied United States Corey Deuel [20][21]
2007 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  Europe 11–8  USA Malta Tony Drago [22][23]
2008 St. Julian's, Malta  Europe 11–5  USA Finland Mika Immonen [24][25]
2009 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  USA 11–7  Europe United States Dennis Hatch [26][27]
2010 Bethnal Green, London, England  Europe 11–8  USA England Darren Appleton [28]
2011 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  Europe 11–7  USA Netherlands Niels Feijen [29][30]
2012 Bethnal Green, London, England  Europe 11–9  USA England Chris Melling [31][32]
2013 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  Europe 11–2  USA Netherlands Niels Feijen [33][34]
2014 Tower Circus, Blackpool, England  Europe 11–5  USA Netherlands Niels Feijen [35][36]
2015 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA  Europe 11–7  USA Netherlands Niels Feijen [37]
2016 Alexandra Palace, London, England [38]

See also

References

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External links

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