The 1963–64

Yugoslav First League The Yugoslav First League ( Bosnian: Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, sr-Cyrl-Latn, Прва савезна лига у фудбалу, Prva savezna liga u fudbalu, , , , , ) was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1918–1941) ...

season was the 18th season of the First Federal League (), the top level

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

league of

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

, since its establishment in 1946. Fourteen teams contested the competition, with

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. ...

winning their 7th title.

Teams

At the end of the previous season

Sloboda A sloboda was a type of settlement in the history of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for 'freedom' and may be loosely translated as 'free settlement'.

and Budućnost were relegated. They were replaced by

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

and

Trešnjevka Trešnjevka is a neighborhood of Zagreb, Croatia. Forming one of the city's inner neighborhoods, it is located in the city's southwestern area. At approximately 15.67 km2 in area and a population of slightly over 121,000, it is one of the most ...

League table

Results

Top scorers

The Planinić Affair

In August 1965, at the beginning of the 1965-66 season—fourteen months after the end of the 1963-64 season when the alleged transgressions had taken place—

FK Željezničar FK or fk may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block * Funky Kong, a video game character Place * F ...

goalkeeper Ranko Planinić came forward with information alleging

match-fixing In organized sports, match fixing (also known as game fixing, race fixing, throwing, rigging, hippodroming, or more generally sports fixing) is the act of playing or officiating a contest with the intention of achieving a predetermined result, v ...

. He claimed that towards the end of the season his club threw its league matches against

Hajduk Split Hrvatski Nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, the club's home ...

and

NK Trešnjevka Nogometni klub Trešnjevka is a professional association football club from the city of Zagreb that is situated in Croatia. Formed in 1926 under the name Panonija, since 1929 the clubs has been known as Trešnjevka. It was promoted to the Yugo ...

in exchange for monetary payouts, which the two relegation-threatened teams decided to pay in order to help themselves avoid the drop to the Yugoslav Second League. Specifically, Planinić claimed that the match played on 31 May 1964 in

Split Split(s) or The Split may refer to: Places * Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia * Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay * Split Island, Falkland Islands * Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua Arts, enter ...

—Hajduk's 4-0 win over Željezničar—was fixed, as well as the following week's match on 7 June 1964 in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

that saw Željezničar and visiting Trešnjevka play to a 3-3 draw. He was in Željezničar's goal in both matches. Planinić made the information public in August 1965, fourteen months after the fact, by approaching a ''Večernje novine'' journalist Alija Resulović who in turn took Planinić's testimony in form of an interview that was published by the paper with circulation of 100,000 copies at the time. In his 2006 book ''Ona vremena'', Resulović claims to have contacted FK Željezničar's president

Nusret Mahić Nusrat or Nusret or Nasrat () is a unisex given name, meaning 'victory' in Arabic. Notable people with the name include: Men with the name Nasrat * Hiztullah Yar Nasrat, Afghan detainee in Guantanamo *Nasiruddin Nasrat Shah (died 1532), sultan o ...

right before submitting the piece for publishing, informing him of Planinić's allegations, seeking comment, and even offering to sit on the information if he (Mahić) thinks it necessary. Resulović further claims that Mahić's response was: "Publish it all! It's all a lie that Planinić concocted as revenge after being fined for a training session incident he had caused". The explosive testimony erupted in a nationwide scandal that would become known as the 'Planinić Affair'. In the years prior, on multiple occasions, Yugoslav First League had been plagued by rumours of widespread match-fixing, however, this was the first instance of a player coming forward as

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

and substantiating those claims on the record.

Investigation

Right after Planinić's allegations hit the press, the Yugoslav FA (FSJ) disciplinary body (disciplinski sud) began an investigation into the two matches Planinić claimed were fixed. Its findings were summarized in an internal memo that was later obtained by various Yugoslav press outlets: ;NK Hajduk Split vs. FK Željezničar Sarajevo played on Sunday, 31 May 1964

Punishment

On 27 August 1965, the Yugoslav FA's disciplinary body (disciplinski sud) presided over by

Svetozar Savić Svetozar (Cyrillic script: Светозар) is a Slavic origin given name and may refer to: * Svetozar Boroević (1856–1920), Austro-Hungarian Field Marshal * Svetozar Čiplić (born 1965), Serbian politician * Svetozar Đanić (1917–1941), S ...

handed out the following penalties: *FK Željezničar's board members, including club president

, got lifelong bans on performing any football-related official functions. *FK Željezničar's head coach at the time

Vlatko Konjevod Vladimir "Vlatko" Konjevod (1923– 4 December 2005) was a Yugoslav and later Bosnian professional football manager and player. Playing career Club He played for SAŠK, Osijek, Željezničar, Sarajevo, Travnik, Slaven Živinice and Napredak M ...

got a lifetime ban from football. *FK Željezničar's players

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional Football player, footballer and Manager (association football), football manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all ...

and

Mišo Smajlović Drago "Mišo" Smajlović (; born 28 October 1938) is a Bosnian retired professional football manager and former player. Club career Smajlović began his career in Sloga, a small amateur club from Sarajevo. In 1955 he moved to the youth team of ...

each got a one-year ban from football. *NK Hajduk Split's board members, including club president

Josip Košto Josip () is a male given name largely found among Croats and Slovenes, a cognate of Joseph. In Croatia, the name Josip was the second most common masculine given name in the decades up to 1959, and has stayed among the top ten most common ones thro ...

, got lifelong bans on performing any football-related official functions. *NK Hajduk Split's head coach at the time Milovan Ćirić got a lifetime ban from football. *Two members of NK Trešnjevka's board got lifelong bans on performing any football-related official functions. *NK Trešnjevka's club president Ivan Bačun and technical director Marjan Matančić got disciplinary motions started against them. *NK Dinamo Zagreb's general secretary Oto Hofman got a lifetime ban from football for acting as a go-between for Željezničar and Trešnjevka. Disciplinary body president Svetozar Savić also announced that the investigation had revealed that Željezničar was paid YUD1.5 million by Hajduk Split, and YUD4 million by Trešnjevka for these matches. Some of the money Trešnjevka paid was obtained from the

Zagreb Fair Zagreb Fair () is a complex of exhibition pavilions in Zagreb, Croatia. The company which operates the venue carries the same name. The Zagreb Fair is the main venue in Zagreb for trade shows and fairs. Every year more than 25 specialised events ...

where some of Trešnjevka's board members were employed at. As a reference point, the price of a daily newspaper at the time was YUD40.

Appeals

On appeal, the main punishment for the three clubs was reduced to points-deduction. For the 1965-66 season, Željezničar, Hajduk, and Trešnjevka were docked 6, 5, and 5 points, respectively.

References

External links

Yugoslavia Domestic Football Full Tables
{{DEFAULTSORT:1963-64 Yugoslav First League Yugoslav First League seasons

Yugo Yugo (), also known as the Zastava Yugo, Zastava Koral (, sr-Cyrl, Застава Корал) and Yugo Koral, was a subcompact car, subcompact hatchback manufactured by Zastava Automobiles from 1980 until 2008, originally a Socialist Federal R ...

1963–64 in Yugoslav football