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 and substantiating those claims on the record.
Its findings were summarized in an internal memo that was later obtained by various Yugoslav press outlets: Several days before the fixture, NK Hajduk managing board member Zdravko Arapović phoned Jakov Brdar, a Zenica-based administrator, in order to ask him to immediately travel to Sarajevo and find someone on the FK Željezničar managing board willing to negotiate a match-fixing deal for the upcoming league fixture between the two teams.
Mahić flatly rejected Arapović's offer, as relayed to him by Brdar, due to its suggestion of a friendly gesture on FK Željezničar's part without any monetary compensation, reacting to it by saying: 'No money—no deal'.
As soon as he received the agreed-upon amount of YUD1.5 million, Nikolić went down to the bench in order to inform Željezničar's head coach Vlatko Konjevod that the money had been collected.
Right after receiving head coach Konjevod's signal, Osim and Smajlović began intentionally sabotaging their own team's play, which became obvious to all of the protagonists on the pitch to the point of causing a revolt among the rest of Željezničar's squad with Rade Matić even physically accosting Osim during the match over his obvious lack of trying.
Arapović further testified that he also agreed the match-fixing with the head coaches of the two clubs — Željezničar's Konjevod and Hajduk's Milovan Ćirić — with both aware of the amount that was paid out.
Furthermore, Željezničar's managing board member Edhem Tufo was aware of all the match-fixing details from the very beginning of the deal and he even saw the cash that Nikolić showed him upon receiving it.
Taking the money in order to throw the match caused friction and antagonism among the Željezničar squad with certain players demanding a cut from club management during the return trip to Sarajevo.
[2]On 27 August 1965, the Yugoslav FA's disciplinary body (disciplinski sud) presided over by Svetozar Savić handed out the following penalties: 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.