These factors turned it into of the most prestigious pre-season tournaments in Yugoslavia, with the most successful clubs from the country regularly making appearances, as well as various foreign teams on occasion.

The tournament in its original state was last held in 1992, after which the Bosnian War started, and as a result Velež was no longer able to play on the Bijeli Brijeg stadium which had hosted every edition up until that point.

There were multiple attempts to revive the tournament, however they were rendered impossible due to financial and technical aspects the club was facing decades after the war.

[6] While no longer commemorated by the city proper due to changing political climates, it remains honoured by external organizations, including those close to Velež.

They defeated Crvena zvezda (Red Star Belgrade) 2-1 in the semifinals, and won the penalty shootout in the final match against Dinamo Zagreb, two of the "Big Four" sides of Yugoslavian football at the time.

Tâj Teheran (later renamed Esteghlal after the Iranian Revolution) became the only non-European team to participate in the tournament in 1978, as the Asian continental champions from Iran finished in fourth place.

Blaž Slišković allegedly bet the referee of the match 100 DM that he could score a direct free kick from a tricky angle.

The Yugoslav FA decided to have a shorter break in the 1981-82 season to have more time to prepare for the World Cup in Spain that year, and the tournament was instead played on 30 and 31 January 1982.

Sloboda, a local newspaper from Mostar reported in late 1986 that West German Bundesliga side Schalke 04 were supposed to participate in next year's tournaments, but they did not appear.

The 1991 edition was the last to include teams outside Bosnia and Herzegovina, and featured Velež's heaviest loss in the history of the February Tournament, 6-1 at the hands of Crvena zvezda.

They rallied to win the third place match 4-0 against Željezničar, while Zvezda defeated Dinamo 1-0 in the final thanks to a goal from Vladimir Jugović in the 14th minute.

[15] After the conclusion of the 1992 February tournament, Bosnia and Herzegovina voted to declare independence from Yugoslavia the following month, and later, war had broken out in the country.

Changing calendars in the football season meant that few countries had a winter break long enough to travel to a tournament held in February.

[16][17] In a 2023 press conference featuring Velež president Senad Kevelj, head of the youth setup Anel Karabeg and U-19 coach Amel Jazvin announced that the February Tournament would be revived.

This would severely weaken the quality of the pitch, but would become an enduring part of the folklore surrounding the tournament in both the run-up to the event, and nostalgic memories decades past.

[21][22] The first attempt to revive the February Tournament came in 2008, when a planned edition in 2009 would have featured Velež, FK Sarajevo, Partizan Belgrade and an unnamed fourth team from Croatia.

[8] The most recent edition of the event was held in 2019, with the trophy Velež won in the 1980–81 Yugoslav Cup prominently displayed, previously thought to be lost forever.