- Mosconi Cup
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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 is modeled on and compared to the Ryder Cup in golf.[1] As of 2010, USA has won the tournament 11 times against 5 victories for Europe and one tie.
The defending champion is Team Europe.
Contents
Player selection
The tournament has featured some of the most famous players in the sport, including Earl Strickland, Johnny Archer, Jimmy White, Alex Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ralf Souquet, and Steve Davis.
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 UK. 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 (Germany), Allison Fisher (England), Jeanette Lee (US) and Vivian Villarreal (US).
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. Of the snooker players, 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's 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 captain European representation
The total number of nations who have represented Europe is twelve (in order of total representatives, alphabetically in the case of ties):
Number of players by country 14: England
5: Germany
4: Netherlands
2: Sweden
1: Finland
1: France
1: Italy
1: Malta
1: Northern Ireland
1: Republic of Ireland
1: Russia
1: Spain
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:[3]
- 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 Ref 1994 Romford, London, England USA
16 12 Europe
[4] 1995 Basildon, Essex, England Europe
16 15 USA
[5] 1996 Dagenham, London, England USA
15 13 Europe
[6] 1997 Bethnal Green, London, England USA
13 8 Europe
[7] 1998 Bethnal Green, London, England USA
13 9 Europe
[8] 1999 Bethnal Green, London, England USA
12 7 Europe
[9] 2000 Bethnal Green, London, England USA
12 9 Europe
[10] 2001 Bethnal Green, London, England USA
12 1 Europe
[11] 2002 Bethnal Green, London, England Europe
12 9 USA
[12] 2003 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA USA
11 9 Europe
[13] 2004 Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands USA
12 9 Europe
[14] 2005 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA USA
11 6 Europe
[15] 2006 Rotterdam, Netherlands Tied 12 12 Tied [16] 2007 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Europe
11 8 USA
[17] 2008 St Julians, Malta Europe
11 5 USA
[18] 2009 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA USA
11 7 Europe
[19] 2010 Bethnal Green, London, England Europe
11 8 USA
[20] See also
- List of sports competitions between teams representing continents
References
- ^ "Mark Prepares for Pool's Biggest Test". Rutland & Stamford Mercury. Stamford, England: Johnston Pr. 27 November 2008. http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/deepings/Mark-prepares-for-pool39s-biggest.4740455.jp. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
- ^ "History", MosconiCup.com, Matchroom Sport, 2006; retrieved 5 April 2007
- ^ "Mosconi Cup Event Information: Format". Matchroom Pool. December 2, 2009. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/MosconiCup/Format/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved December 7, 2009.
- ^ "Europe 12–16 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1994/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
- ^ "Europe 16–15 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1995/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
- ^ "Europe 13–15 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1996/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 8–13 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1997/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 9–13 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1998/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 7–12 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup1999/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 9–12 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2000/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 1–12 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2001/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 12–9 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2002/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 9–11 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-02. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2003/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 9–12 USA". Mosconi Cup 2004. Archived from the original on 2010-12-22. http://www.webcitation.org/5vAVa85LR. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 6–11 USA". Mosconi Cup 2006. Archived from the original on 2010-12-02. http://web.archive.org/web/20070808040301/www.mosconicup.com/staticPage.asp?article_id=20. Retrieved 2010-12-22.
- ^ "Europe 12-12 USA". Matchroom Pool. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2006/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ "Europe 8-11 USA". Matchroom Pool. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2007/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ "Europe 11-5 USA". Matchroom Pool. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2008/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ "Europe 7-11 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2009-12-13. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/mcup2009/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2009-12-10.
- ^ "Europe 11-8 USA". Mosconi Cup. 2010-12-19. http://www.matchroompool.com/page/MosconiCup/Results/0,,12660,00.html. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
External links
Mosconi Cup Full results by year Winners and statistics Categories:
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