This week, Team USA will try to wrestle the Mosconi Cup from the hands of Team Europe as the two teams clash at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas.
The annual battle of the two teams has become one of the big sporting events in the countdown to Christmas and over the years has produced a number of exhilarating matches, as well as lengthy spells of dominance by both teams.
In this article, we are going to learn more about the history of the tournament, its main stats and then we will look ahead to the teams competing in the 2022 tournament, which welcomes back one of its most colourful and controversial characters for the first time in many years!
Bet365 Sport is offering an extensive range of Mosconi Cup betting on the tournament, with outright betting on the two teams now available, and there will be pre-match and Live In Play betting available on the games when they have been announced and are in progress.
Let’s now learn a little about this famous 9-ball pool tournament and how it was first developed and how successful the two teams have been since the tournament was first contested back in 1994.
The Mosconi Cup was the brainchild of Matchroom chairman Barry Hearn. Hearn had enjoyed a successful career in snooker in the 1980s and 1990s and he felt that 9-ball pool was an equally watchable game for fans to enjoy, even though it was not especially popular in the United Kingdom as it was in other places around the world.
To combat this, Hearn’s idea was to develop a competition similar to the Ryder Cup in golf, where a team of American players would face off against a team of European players.
The sad death of Hall of Fame pool legend Willie Mosconi in 1993 provided the inspiration for the name of the tournament; the Mosconi Cup and the first teams that contested this initially exhibition event also featured two female players on each team.
Despite early dominance by the United States team, the competition proved to be a huge success and became more prestigious and competitive as a result and soon, players began having to earn their place in the team with their performances across the 9-ball pool season.
Several small changes to the tournament enhanced it’s appeal too. The number of matches was decreased from a maximum of 31 down to the current level of 21. Additionally, the venue moved from being held in London each year to being switched between Las Vegas and London (or occasionally other venues in Europe) each year.
The net result is one of 9-ball pool’s most coveted competitions to compete in for the players and one that makes great viewing, and betting, for fans in the United States and Europe alike.
Shown below are every score from each Mosconi Cup contested since the first one in 1994. We have also listed the MVP from each Mosconi Cup from when this other award was first handed out in 2003.
*indicates that the denoted player is competing in the 2022 tournament and could increase this number this year.
This is where we stand heading into the 2022 Mosconi Cup with Europe seeking to hold onto the title for a third successive year in Las Vegas.
This year’s Mosconi Cup is being hosted at Bally’s Casino in Las Vegas with the first of four scheduled days of play taking place on the 30th November with the tournament concluding no later than the 3rd December.
A total of 21 matches could be contested between the two teams and the first team to reach 11 points will end the contest and be declared winners of the Mosconi Cup.
A variety of match formats will be played across each of the four days of competition. This includes team matches (involving all players on each team), doubles games and singles matches.
Additionally, some games will see fan votes decide which player will take on an opponent from another team and if we go to a 21st match, the captains will decide which player to put forward for the singles match.
Each day sees five points up for grabs across five matches and games are played using an alternate break format, with players lagging for the right to break first.
Matches will be played from 11am Las Vegas time, through to around 3.30pm each day and in the UK, matches will be shown live on Sky Sports.
There is also a prize fund for the tournament of $225,000 with the winning team’s players earning $30,000 apiece for the win, and the runner’s up players each receiving $15,000.
Let’s now take a look at the teams competing this year. The World Ranking (WR) for each player is shown in brackets
Four of the five players that won the tournament for Europe in 2021 return for this tournament, with only Sanchez Ruiz of Spain having never played, or won, the event previously. Team Europe boasts the top two ranked players in the world and 3 of their team are inside the world’s top ten.
Team USA may enjoy home advantage in the Mosconi Cup this year, but their squad boasts just two players inside the top ten with two more ranked joint 67th and Earl Strickland not ranked after taking a sabbatical from professional pool before making his return last year. Covid ruled him out of the 2021 event, but he has been granted permission to play this time around.
Bet365 have Europe as the favourites to win the tournament at 4/9, with the United States 13/8.
The site is also offering a number of Bet Boosts on the tournament too, including increasing the odds on Europe to win 11-7 from 7/1 to 8/1.
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