The location was picked because the winter conditions would make it hard to play the games in Russia or Ukraine.

[5] The four participating clubs were Shakhtar Donetsk, Metalist Kharkiv from Ukraine and Zenit St. Petersburg, CSKA Moscow from Russia.

[8] The tournament was also attended by Mikhail Fomenko, the manager of Ukraine national football team.

[9] Shakhtar Donetsk and CSKA Moscow were based in Tel Aviv for the tournament, while Metallist Kharkiv in Netanya, and Zenit Saint Petersburg in Herzeliya.

The tournament format was round-robin (instead of two-legged ties for all pairs of clubs from different countries, as played previously).