May 1937 they toured France beating Olympique Marseille 2–5, losing 3–1 to Sète, and playing Racing Paris twice more, 3–3 and 2–3. In May 1937, the team began to have problems with FIFA. Due to the civil war in Spain FIFA had banned all FIFA-affiliated countries and clubs from playing any Spanish teams. A match due to take place on 30 May in the Netherlands against Rotterdam was cancelled by the Dutch Federation. But many clubs and national sides continued to play the Basque team because they sympathised with Republican Spain which the team symbolised. The team's first match against a nation from outside of Spain was a 3–2 defeat, also in May 1937, to Czechoslovakia, who had been runners up in the 1934 World Cup. In June, they played Czechoslovakia again losing 2–1. Then they played Silesia in Chorzów on 9 June. When Bilbao was captured by Franco's forces on 19 June 1937 the Basque team were in Moscow, having been invited by the Soviet Union's Politburo due to political motivations. They then toured the country during that summer, playing against Lokomotiv Moscow (1–5), Dynamo Moscow twice (1–2) and (4–7), Dinamo Leningrad (2–2), Spartak Moscow (6–2), Dynamo Kiev (1–3), Dinamo Tbilisi (0–2), the Georgian football team (1–3), and finally Dinamo Minsk (1–6). Their only loss was against Spartak Moscow. The Soviet authorities were determined to win the final game in Moscow, so the Spartak team was improved by bringing players from other parts of the country to play for the team just for that match. Lastly they travelled to Norway and Denmark in August where they beat an Østfold select (1–3), Norwegian AIF (2–3), and completed their biggest win to date against Denmark's (1–11). In the autumn of 1937 the team crossed the Atlantic to play in Mexico where FIFA had given them permission to play clubs and the national side. FC Barcelona had undertaken a similar tour a few months earlier. After playing nine matches in the capital and one in Guadalajara they crossed over to Cuba where their problems with FIFA got worse. FIFA demanded that Cuba should not play the Basque Country. So the Basque team only played club sides, playing four matches, winning one and losing two. Next they travelled to Argentina, arriving on 25 February 1938. They stayed there for three months but officially played no matches due to their problems with FIFA. As