The 2001 Nations Cup (officially the 2001 Coalite Nations Cup) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place at The Hexagon, in Reading, Berkshire, England, from 13 to 21 January 2001. It was a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association team competition held as part of the 2000–01 snooker season and the third and final edition of the Nations Cup. The competition was contested by eight nations of three players each, with one of them qualifying via a play-off match. It was sponsored by smokeless coal manufacturer Coalite.
England were the tournament's defending champions but were eliminated in the group stages after finishing third in their group. Scotland's Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Alan McManus won the competition, defeating the Republic of Ireland's (ROI) Ken Doherty, Fergal O'Brien and Michael Judge six to two (6–2) in the final. During the match, referee Alan Chamberlain courted controversy when he cautioned O'Brien over slow play since the television coverage was due to end soon after. The event's highest was a 131 made by Thai player Phaitoon Phonbun in the second frame of his nation's group match with Malta.
Background
The Nations Cup was formed in 1999 as a five-squad snooker tournament involving the Home Nations. The 2001 tournament was expanded from five to eight teams to accommodate non-Home Nations sides. It was a World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association team event staged as part of the 2000–01 snooker season and was held at The Hexagon, Reading, Berkshire, from 13 to 21 January 2001. Although there were plans to rename the tournament the World Cup, this was the final year it was played because ITV stopped broadcasting snooker. Sponsored by smokeless coal manufacturer Coalite, the event had a total prize pool of £69,400, with £46,950 going to the winning squad divided equally amongst all three players. The host broadcaster was ITV.
Rules
The Nations Cup had eight national teams consisting of three players each. These teams were split into two round-robin groups of four. Each side played a best-of-seven match between other nations in their group. The first three frames were contested by one player from each team and the fourth by two from each side. The last frames were played by one participant per nation. The two squads who won the most games in their group qualified for the semi-finals. Should there have been a tie for second place, the nation with the higher frame difference progressed or each player would have two tries to the on its from the in a shoot-out. If this did not determine a group winner, the match would go to sudden death.
The two best-of-nine frames semi-finals were contested on 19 and 20 January with the best-of-eleven frames final on 21 January. The final's first three frames were played by one player from each nation with the fourth featuring two from both teams. The final six frames featured one participant from each squad. In the event the game was tied at 5–5, the team captains would be required to nominate the player for the final frame decider. Except for the last frame of the final, players were not allowed to play two frames in succession or more than one frame against their opposite from the other squad.
Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for the 2001 tournament is listed below. Each player received an equal share of prize money for how well their team fared. The £20,000 maximum break prize would be awarded to the first participant to attain the feat in the competition. Winner: £16,650 Runner-up: £6,650 Highest break: £2,500 Maximum break: £20,000 Total: £69,400
Participants
The tournament composed eight teams of three players representing individual nations. All of the eight nations were represented by their three highest ranked players. Each team was seeded with the defending champions England seeded first and Scotland second. Malta qualified for the Nations Cup by defeating Belgium 3–2 in a play-off round in the Bournemouth International Centre, on 18 November 2000. Below is a list of participating teams and players.