The Mosconi Cup is an annual
nine-ball pool tournament contested since
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
between teams representing Europe and the United States. Named after American pool player
Willie Mosconi, the event is comparable to the
Ryder Cup in
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
and the
Weber Cup in
bowling
Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...
.
Team composition and formats have varied over the years. , each team has five playing members.
Each team also has a captain and vice captain, who may be among the players, or may be non-playing additional members of the team. The teams compete over one team match, several doubles matches and singles matches, with the first team to win 11 matches claiming victory.
On 3 December 2024,
Team Europe beat Team USA 11–6, kept the title and took an overall series lead of 17–13, with one tie.
History and player selection
First staged in 1994 by
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
and
Matchroom Sport as an
exhibition event to increase public awareness of pool in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, the Mosconi Cup was named to commemorate the legacy of American pool player
Willie Mosconi, who died in 1993.
In the first year of competition, each team featured six men and two women, with Germany's
Franziska Stark and England's
Allison Fisher on Team Europe, and
Jeanette Lee and
Vivian Villarreal on Team USA. No women appeared after the initial event, although
Kelly Fisher in 2021 called on organizers to reinstate female players. In the event's early years, professional
snooker
Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...
players
Ronnie O'Sullivan,
Jimmy White,
Alex Higgins
Alexander Gordon Higgins (18 March 1949 – 24 July 2010) was a Northern Irish professional snooker player and a two-time world champion who is remembered as one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. Nicknamed "Hurricane Higgi ...
, and
Steve Davis all competed on Team Europe.
Staged in England for its first nine years, the Mosconi Cup from
2003
2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater.
In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War.
Demographic ...
to
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
alternated annually between the US and Europe. Most U.S tournaments taking place in
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
other than in
2024
The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...
event being held in
Orlando, Florida
Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...
. Most of the European tournaments taking place in England other than
2004
2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO).
Events January
* January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...
and
2006 which were held in the
Netherlands
, Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
and the
2008
2008 was designated as:
*International Year of Languages
*International Year of Planet Earth
*International Year of the Potato
*International Year of Sanitation
The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
event being held in
Malta
Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
.
As time progressed, the event evolved from its exhibition nature into a much more serious and professional tournament. Among the snooker players, only Davis continued into the event's more serious era, competing in the first eleven Mosconi Cups and bowing out only when the event began to clash with snooker's
UK Championship, at which he appeared as both a player and a
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
commentator. After Davis's withdrawal, all players had to earn an invitation through their performances at other pool 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.
Team USA initially dominated the tournament, winning 10 of the first 12 tournaments between 1994 and 2005, including 6 consecutive victories from 1996 to 2001. The 2006 tournament was a tie. Since then, Team Europe has dominated the tournament, winning 15 of the 18 events staged between 2007 and 2024, including 8 consecutive victories from 2010 to 2017. The overall series record now stands at 17–13 to Team Europe.
Joshua Filler of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
became the youngest player to participate in the Mosconi Cup at 20 years old, in 2017.
Earl Strickland of the United States became the oldest player to participate in the Mosconi Cup at 61 years old, in 2022.
The record for the most Mosconi Cup appearances is 18, held by USA's
Shane Van Boening. The record for the most Mosconi Cup wins is 9, held jointly by both USA's
Earl Strickland and
Johnny Archer.
Player appearances
The players to have appeared in the Mosconi Cup:
European players
American players
*
1 Born outside the United States
Player wins
The players to have been on a winning team in the Mosconi Cup:
European players
American players
*
1 Born outside the United States
Player representation
European nations
Players from sixteen nations have represented Europe. Sorted by number of different people, (number of appearances), and alphabetically, these are:
American states
Players from twenty-three states have represented the United States (Fedor Gorst, Charlie Williams and Johan Ruijsink were all born outside of the US). Ordered as above, these are:
Tournament modifications
There have been rule changes and format changes throughout the tournament's 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 . 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:
* 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 by year
See also
*
References
External links
*
{{Cue sports nav
Pool competitions
Recurring sporting events established in 1994
1994 establishments in England
Annual sporting events
December in sports