Though the
events under scrutiny had taken place fourteen months earlier, the beginning of the 1965-66 Yugoslav First League season and subsequently the rest of the campaign were marked by revelations of
match fixing from May and June 1964, during the concluding weeks of the
1963-64 season. In late August 1965, two weeks into the new league season,
FK Željezničar,
Hajduk Split, and
NK Trešnjevka were found guilty of fixing matches from two seasons earlier at the end of the 1963–64 season. Their guilt was based on a written statement by the Željo goalkeeper
Ranko Planinić who decided to come forward some 14 months after the fact. In his statement, Planinić claims on the record that his club threw matches against Hajduk and Trešnjevka towards the end of the
1963-64 season in return for financial compensation that those two relegation-threatened teams paid in order to avoid the drop. Specifically, Planinić claims that the match played on 31 May 1964 in
Split when Hajduk beat Željezničar 4-0 was fixed, as well as the match on 7 June 1964 in
Sarajevo when Željo and Trešnjevka tied 3-3. He was in Željo's goal for both matches. Planinić made the information public in August 1965 by approaching the
Večernje novine journalist Alija Resulović who in turn took Planinić's testimony in form of an interview and the piece was published by the paper, circulated in 100,000 copies at the time. In his 2006 book
Ona vremena, Resulović claims to have contacted FK Željezničar's president
Nusret Mahić right before submitting the piece for print, informing him of Planinić's allegations, seeking comment, and even offering to sit on the information if he (Mahić) thinks it necessary. As a reference point, the price of a daily newspaper at the time was YUD40. Furthermore, NK Hajduk Split, NK Trešnjevka, and FK Željezničar were relegated to the
Yugoslav Second League's Western Division, effective immediately. The decision further entailed reorganization of the 1965–66 Yugoslav First League that was already two weeks into its run via reducing the number of clubs from 16 to 13 and voiding all the 1965-66 Yugoslav First League matches played by Hajduk, Trešnjevka, and Željezničar up to that point (6 matches in total). It also meant expanding the
1965–66 Yugoslav Second League Western Division from 18 to 21 clubs. All of the individual punishments for players and club management members were upheld. ==League table==