There is no atmosphere in pool like the Mosconi Cup. Four days, one table, two teams of five, and a crowd that treats every rack like a cup final — because that is exactly what it is.
The 2026 edition runs November 27–30 at the Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando, Florida, and the storyline writes itself. Team Europe has won this thing six years in a row. A seventh straight title is the target when captain Niels Feijen — an eight-time Mosconi winner as a player and a record four-time MVP — leads the Europeans into Florida.
Team USA’s answer? Bring back the last man who beat them. Non-playing captain Johan Ruijsink masterminded the Americans’ most recent Mosconi wins, in 2018 and 2019. The USA has not lifted the cup since. Ruijsink’s return is the whole ballgame: if anyone knows how to build a team that can stand up to Europe’s machine, it is him.
How the teams get picked
Each side carries five players. The top three finishers on the tour’s one-year ranking list qualify automatically, and each captain adds two wildcard picks. That makes every ranking event between now and November a Mosconi audition — including the Philippines Open in Quezon City (Oct 20–24), where Spain’s David Alcaide defends the title he won at the inaugural edition last year.
As the tour rolls through Asia this month, the names in the frame tell the story of modern pool. Spain’s Francisco Sánchez Ruíz just won his second US Open in Frisco, Texas — a 13–12 hill-hill classic over Robbie Capito — and sits No. 3 in the world. Germany’s Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen give Europe frightening depth. And for the Americans, everything still runs through Shane Van Boening, the South Dakota Kid, who has played in a record 19 straight Mosconi Cups and warmed up for the autumn by winning the Florida Open in Orlando in August — in the same city where he will try to end Europe’s streak in November.
