The 1965âÂÂ66 Yugoslav First League season was the 20th season of the First Federal League (), the top level association football league of SFR Yugoslavia, since its establishment in 1946. Sixteen teams contested the competition, with Vojvodina winning their first national title.
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 à ½eljezniÃÂar, Hajduk Split, and NK Treà ¡njevka were found guilty of fixing matches from two seasons earlier at the end of the 1963âÂÂ64 season. Their guilt was based on a written statement by the à ½eljo goalkeeper Ranko Planiniàwho decided to come forward some 14 months after the fact. In his statement, Planiniàclaims on the record that his club threw matches against Hajduk and Treà ¡njevka 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, Planiniàclaims that the match played on 31 May 1964 in Split when Hajduk beat à ½eljezniÃÂar 4-0 was fixed, as well as the match on 7 June 1964 in Sarajevo when à ½eljo and Treà ¡njevka tied 3-3. He was in à ½eljo's goal for both matches.
Planiniàmade the information public in August 1965 by approaching the VeÃÂernje novine journalist Alija Resuloviàwho in turn took PlaniniÃÂ'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, Resuloviàclaims to have contacted FK à ½eljezniÃÂar's president Nusret Mahiàright before submitting the piece for print, informing him of PlaniniÃÂ's allegations, seeking comment, and even offering to sit on the information if he (MahiÃÂ) thinks it necessary. Resuloviàfurther claims that MahiÃÂ's response was: "Publish it all! It's all a lie that Planiniàconcocted as revenge for being fined for an incident he caused at a training session".
The explosive testimony immediately erupted in a nationwide scandal that became known as the 'PlaniniÃÂ Affair'. Yugoslav First League had been plagued by rumours of widespread match-fixing on multiple occasions over the preceding decade, however, this was the first occasion that a player came forward and substantiated those claims on the record.
On Friday, 27 August 1965, following a fifteen-hour investigative process, the Yugoslav FA's (FSJ) disciplinary body (disciplinski sud) presided over by Svetozar SaviÃÂ handed out the following penalties:
Disciplinary body president Svetozar Saviàalso announced that the investigation had revealed that à ½eljezniÃÂar was paid YUD1.5 million by Hajduk Split, and YUD4 million by Treà ¡njevka for these matches. Some of the money Treà ¡njevka paid was obtained from the Zagreb Fair where some of Treà ¡njevka's board members were employed at. As a reference point, the price of a daily newspaper at the time was YUD40.
Furthermore, NK Hajduk Split, NK Treà ¡njevka, and FK à ½eljezniÃÂar were relegated to the Yugoslav Second League's Western Division, effective immediately. The decision further entailed reorganization of the 1965âÂÂ66 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, Treà ¡njevka, and à ½eljezniÃÂar up to that point (6 matches in total). It also meant expanding the 1965âÂÂ66 Yugoslav Second League Western Division from 18 to 21 clubs.
The draconian punishment caused widespread shock and approval among the Yugoslav public with each of the FSJ's six sub-federations except for SR Croatia's expressing strong support of the decision. Fans of Hajduk, Treà ¡njevka, and à ½eljezniÃÂar organized street protests in their respective cities with the Split demonstration being the most attended. The three clubs quickly lodged an appeal with the FSJ.
On Friday, 9 September 1965, the Yugoslav FA's appeals commission announced its decisions. The main punishment for the three clubs was reduced to points-deduction. à ½eljo, Hajduk, and Treà ¡njevka were docked 6, 5, and 5 points, respectively.
All of the individual punishments for players and club management members were upheld.
As a result of having 6 points docked in addition to missing two of their best players for most of the 1965âÂÂ66 season, à ½eljezniÃÂar spent the majority of the league campaign in a desperate fight for league survival. Towards the end of the season, for the deciding league matches in à ½eljo's battle to avoid relegation, the FSJ decided to lift the à ½eljo star player Ivica Osim's ban ahead of its expiration. In the second last week of the season, on 12 June 1966, Osim's goal at RadniÃÂki Nià ¡ in a 0âÂÂ1 away win in Nià ¡ effectively kept à ½eljo in the First League.
Over the decades since, PlaniniÃÂ's motivation to become a whistleblower has been aggressively questioned by journalists close to the punished clubs. After he blew the whistle, the tone and framing of press write-ups referencing Planiniàin various Sarajevo and Split-based print media outlets ranged from dismissing his claims outright to insults, insinuations and speculation about his decision to come forward being made out of spite, hurt ego, or personal vendetta against his club because supposedly his summer 1965 off-season contract negotiations with FK à ½eljezniÃÂar stalled or because he had lost the starting position in à ½eljezniÃÂar's goal to teammate Vasilije RadoviÃÂ.
<onlyinclude></onlyinclude>
Champions:
players (league matches/league goals):
Source: