The term Team Europe is used in a number of sports to designate a unified team of European countries in several sports competitions. Whilst neither the European Union nor the Council of Europe are countries themselves, European teams have been formed to compete in several international competitions. The most famous of these is the Ryder Cup in golf which sees a European team play against a team from the USA in even-numbered years. In football, a selection of European footballers play occasionally for charity games and anniversary games in the Europe XI team.

Examples of competitions featuring a European team

"Team Europe" is the official designation of the team representing Europe in several international competitions

Europe vs. USA

The Weber Cup, named after bowling legend Dick Weber, is the Ten-pin bowling equivalent of Golf's Ryder Cup. It consists of two teams, Team Europe and Team USA competing over three days in a series of singles, doubles and team (baker) matches.

History/Background

The Weber Cup is the annual Europe vs USA ten-pin bowling championships and is currently broadcast live from start to finish on Sky Sports in the UK and in many other international channels around the world. It usually takes place in October every year.

For the first 7 events, from 2000 to 2006, 35 matches were played. Each match worth 1 point. The first team to 18 points won the tournament.
From 2007, the tournament was reduced slightly to 33 matches, again each match is worth 1 point so the first team to 17 will win.

All matches are played in a single lane arena, with banked spectators on both sides, which is specially constructed for the event.

2003

In 2003, missing their inspirational captain Tim Mack, and up against some vociferous northern support, Team USA were never in contention as the Europeans went into the lead early on day one and never relinquished it.

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 2015, USA has won the tournament 11 times against 10 victories for Europe and one tie. 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).