The East Cup was established by FC Rubin and the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Tatarstan in 2024. The first tournament was held from September 20 to 22, 2024, on the fields of the Molodaya Gvardiya camp in picturesque Kazan, with the participation of 10 teams from Russia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan. During the tournament, a memorandum of cooperation was signed between representatives of the participating teams.
The second East Cup tournament was timed to coincide with the 16th International Economic Forum “Russia — Islamic World: KAZANFORUM” and was held in May 2025, also at the Molodaya Gvardiya camp. The participants were children’s teams from Russia, Oman, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan.
As part of the tournament, a football gala match was held featuring young diplomats from the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, stars of FC Rubin, and the Russian national team. The main goal of the match was to demonstrate that there are no political, national, or religious barriers in sport.