[1][2] The context of the tournament were the talks which are held regarding creating the United CIS championship, or joint Russia–Ukraine league.

[6] In 2014, the War in Donbass and conflict between Russia and Ukraine put the idea to create a united tournament between the nations on halt.

[4][5][8][9][3] The context of the tournament was talks which were held regarding creating the United CIS championship, or joint Russia–Ukraine league.

[citation needed] The organisers of the tournament were the same people in charge of drafting a proposal for the united league.

Four teams participated in it: Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv from Ukraine; Zenit St. Petersburg and CSKA Moscow from Russia.