Alex Lely has been appointed as the new captain of Team Europe at the partypoker Mosconi Cup, with Karl Boyes as his vice-captain. Europe will be looking to regain the Cup at Alexandra Palace, London this December 1st-4th after suffering back-to-back defeats against USA.
Dutchman Lely returns to the helm having been European captain in 2008 and 2009. In his first Cup as captain he led Europe to an 11-5 victory in Malta before losing 11-7 to USA the following year.
“It is very exciting,” said Lely of his appointment. “It has been ten years since I was last the captain and that is a long time in the context of the Mosconi Cup. It has grown to be so big in that time and it is getting better every year. With USA winning it the last two years, the Mosconi Cup has sparks once again.
“We have a big pool of talent in Europe. We have two wildcards so together with Karl Boyes we will need to make the right choices to compliment the three players who qualify through the rankings. There will be a list of usual suspects and new contenders we have to consider. One new contender to consider would have to be Fedor Gorst, who came really close to making the team last year and is now World Champion.
“We need to get our act together. It is not just about making the balls, it is about acting as a team and it will be very important for the team to gel. Communication will be very important between the coaches and the players, and amongst players themselves. Playing at home, we want to bring it home.
“The past ten years, I have been coaching a lot, working with top players, and commentating a lot. So I have been very close to the Mosconi Cup and elite pool and I have learned a lot. I think ten years ago I was pretty green, a bit of a rookie. I wasn’t as experienced as a coach as I am now.
Alex Lely｜JP Parmentier/Matchroom Multi Sport
“Karl and I can complement each other very well. Boyes is boy-ish and can bring something to the team that I probably couldn’t. But he is very insightful; it isn’t just banter. He is very experienced in the Mosconi Cup and I am very happy to have him in my corner.”
Boyes is a four-time partypoker Mosconi Cup winner with Europe and since putting down his cue has become one of pool’s leading pundits.
“The campaign paid off,” said Boyes, who had been using social media to gather support for his bid for a role in the European setup. “It will be great to work alongside Alex, who has experience of the captaincy role and is a top coach and commentator. Alex is a very knowledgeable guy and I think we will gel very well together.
“The last couple of years I’ve seen a few things which we can improve on. I think the doubles needs to be worked on more where certain points have been lost because maybe the pairings haven’t been quite right. Certainly, last year Johan worked the schedule well and Shane van Boening and Skyler Woodward played more times than say, Joshua Filler and Jayson Shaw.”
Lely takes the reigns as European captain from Marcus Chamat, who led the team from 2015 until 2019, lifting the cup three times. Matchroom Pool would like to thank Marcus for his hard work during his time as European captain.
A full list of the 2020 Team Europe qualifying events will be published later this month.
Tickets for the 2020 partypoker Mosconi Cup are on sale now at www.mosconicup.com. Tickets are priced at £25, £40 and £60 per day with Platinum VIP packages from £170 per day. Season tickets for all four days start at £90 with the Platinum VIP season ticket priced £600. Platinum VIP includes seating in the front three rows, a two-course buffet dinner, mid-session hot-food bowl, unlimited beer, wine and soft drinks from 6:30pm-10:30pm and much more.
The 2020 partypoker Mosconi Cup is partnered by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and Saluc is the Official Ball Provider. Predator is the Official Cue of the event, Kamui the Official Chalk and Tip and Ultimate Team Gear provide all partypoker Mosconi Cup apparel.