On several occasions, some national football organizations of the former Soviet republics as well as individual clubs refused participation in the tournament for different reasons.

Unlike the rest of the states, who send their latest champions to play in the tournament, Serbia has sent OFK Beograd to play in the tournament.In its first years the tournament was popular in the territories of the former Soviet Union, including the most titled teams from the old Soviet Top League.

Spartak Moscow from Russia, and Dynamo Kyiv from Ukraine each won the cup several times but, after less than a decade, the teams from Russia and Ukraine became hesitant to send their best players to play on the artificial turf at the Olympic Stadium, so they sent their reserve players instead[5][6][7] or sometimes the league runners-up participated in their place.

Eventually, Neftçi PFK were given a bye to the final, where they defeated the Lithuanian club FBK Kaunas 4–2.

In October 2009, Bunyodkor coach Luis Felipe Scolari announced that his Uzbek side would not enter the 2010 tournament due to focusing on the Asian Champions League.