Everything you need to know about the Mosconi Cup XXIV 2017

The Mosconi Cup returns to Las Vegas as Team USA look to finally wrestle the famous Cup back from the hands of the Europeans. Renowned coach Johan Ruisjink has taken over the reigns as captain for the hosts, can he have them same impact on America as he did with Europe? Or will Marcus Chamat’s men continue to reign supreme on pool’s greatest stage?

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. As of 2016, USA and Europe have each won the tournament 11 times and tied once. 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.

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:
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.

This year's Mosconi Cup will take place at the resort / casino Mandaly Bay, en Las Vegas, USA.

Between the 4th and 7th of December, the Americans and Europeans will contest for a winning price of 20.000$ per player.

The USA team, with Johan Ruijsink as a captain, will be formed by great players like Shane van Boening, Skyler Woodward, Oscar Dominguez, Dennis Hatch and Billy Thorpe (playing his first Mosconi Cup).

The European team will have Marcus Chamat as captain and will be formed by outstanding players such as Ralf Souquet, Nick van den Berg, Jayson Shaw, David Alcaide and Joshua Filler (also will be his first attendance at a Mosconi Cup).

The ticket price will start at 48$ and up to 255$ depending on the number of days asisting and the seats chosen.

 
Mosconi Cup basic info:

Date: From the 4th to 7th of December at Mandaly Bay, Las Vegas, USA.

Prize: 20.000$ per player (winning team) / 10.000$ per player (runners up)

Style: 9 ball, alternate break, 5 wins matches, 30 seconds to shoot.

Encounters: 1 team match, 8 doubles matches y 12 de individual matches.

Everything is ready for this epic billiard tournament between USA and Europe. We only need to wait a few more hours to enjoy this amazing anual event.

Just so your waiting time is more pleasent, you can check the following video with the best plays from last year's Mosconi Cup XXIII:

Who will be this year's winner? Which team is your favorite?

Let us know in the comments below! :)

Extra info: If you want to check the Mosconi Cup XXIV by PPV Streaming, check this link.