The ninth edition of the World Cup of Pool begins play on Tuesday as thirty-two nations vie for the championship of the most prestigious pool tournament in the world today. Teams will be represented by two top 9-ball players from their respective countries as they try to survive the five-day tournament set from Sept. 23 to 28, 2014 and held at Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, England.

Tournament format calls for a knockout stage in every round starting with the first round matches scheduled over the first three days of competition.

Aside from international prestige, teams will also be fighting for a part of the $250,000 prize pool with the lion’s share of $60,000 going to the winning pair.

Europe and Asia are the continents most represented in the event with 17 and 11 nations, respectively participating from those regions. Four others come from the Americas and Australia.

“Some teams crumble under these circumstances, others raise their games and embrace it. This tournament is as near to the Mosconi Cup as you will get for atmosphere and pressure, and both Chris Melling and myself have proved our worth in both events over the years,” Daryl Peach said via the tournament’s official website.

Peach along with Melling plays for the team from England, which is hosting the event for the third time in the history of the World Cup of Pool. As hosts, the home country is allowed to field in two teams with Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes consisting the other English squad.

Buoyed by what is expected to be a raucous crowd, both England teams are expected to go deep into the tournament and are two of the favourites to win the crown. Others considered as top-quality pairs are the players from the Philippines (defending champion), Germany, Holland, USA, Chinese-Taipei and China.

The first (Round of 32) and second (Round of 16) rounds call for race-to-seven matches; quarterfinals and semifinals, a race-to-nine and the championship match a race-to-10.

Here is the full list of the two-man teams for each country participating in the 2014 World Cup of Pool:

Australia - Phil Reilly and James Georgiadis

Austria - Albin Ouschan and Mario He

Canada – Alex Pagulayan and John Morra

Chile - Alejandro Carvajal and Enrique Rojas

China - Wang Can ad Dang Jinhu

Chinese Taipei – Chang Yu-lung and Hsu Kai Lun

Croatia - Ivica Putnik and Karlo Dalmatin

Czech Republic - Roman Hybler and Michal Gavenciak

England A – Darren Appleton and Karl Boyes

England B - Daryl Peach and Chris Melling

Finland – Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen

France - Stephan Cohen and Alex Montpelier

Germany – Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann

Greece - Nikos Ekonomopoulos and Alexander Kazakis

Holland – Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg

India – Raj Hundal and Amar Kang

Indonesia – Irsal Nasution and Muhammad Zulfikri

Italy - Fabio Petroni and Daniele Corrieri

Japan – Hayato Hijikata and Masaaki Tanaka

Korea – Jeong Yung Hwa and Ha Minuk

Malaysia - Ibrahim Amir and Alan Tan

Philippines – Dennis Orcollo and Lee Vann Corteza

Poland – Karol Skowerski and Mateusz Sniegocki

Portugal - Manuel Gama and Guilherme Sousa

Qatar – Waleed Majid and Bashar Hussain

Russia - Konstantin Stepanov and Ruslan Chinakhov

Spain - David Alcaide and Francisco Diaz-Pizarro

Sweden - Andreas Gerwen and Tomas Larsson

Switzerland - Dimitri Jungo and Ronni Regli

Thailand – Nitiwat Kanjanasri and Tanut Makkamontee

USA – Shane Van Boening and Earl Strickland

Vietnam - Nguyen Phuc Long and Dang Thanh Kien

The Philippines holds the World Cup of Pool record of three world championships winning in 2006, 2009 and 2013 while China is gunning for their third crown with wins in 2007 and 2010. USA (2008), Germany (2011) and Finland (2012) have won at least once in this tournament.