Although the 1959 tournament was again dominated by teams from the Americas, the Eastern Bloc finally made its first appearance, with EuroBasket 1957 champion Soviet Union and runner-up Bulgaria participating in the tournament for the first time. The tournament was originally scheduled for 1958, but was moved to January 1959 after delays in the construction of Metropolitan Indoor Stadium. Money previously dedicated to the arena was instead dished out to football stadiums throughout the country after Chile was awarded the 1962 FIFA World Cup. This caused the tournament to move outdoors to the Estadio Nacional de Chile, which was converted from a football to a basketball stadium for the occasion. In a precedent that would continue until the 1982 FIBA World Championship, the host team was given a bye into the final round of the tournament. The tournament was briefly threatened when the United States first declined the invitation because the postponed tournament was scheduled in the middle of the NCAA and AAU seasons. After FIBA told the Americans that this would ruin the competition, the U.S. relented and sent a team from the United States Air Force. The Soviet Union impressed in its matchup with the second-rate American team, dominating in a 62–37 victory witnessed by 30,000 fans, a FIBA record for non-final games. Still, the European champion Soviets were beatable, as evidenced by a preliminary round defeat to Canada. Despite the loss, the Soviet Union seemed well on their way to gold; a victory over Formosa in the final round robin game (there were no playoffs at the tournament) would have given them the gold.