 According to the original plan, countries such as France, Argentina, the USSR, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and West Germany (all strong footballing nations) were not to be invited as they did not participate in the 1950 World Cup.However, the French side Nice was accepted to the competition following the organizers' failure to bring a Spanish side.Also due to the failure to bring teams from England and Sweden, the competition organizers accepted clubs from Austria (at the time, the most successful federation at the Mitropa Cup) and Yugoslavia (the next highest ranked nation at the 1950 World Cup).