It was one of the autumn derbies in the season from the famous "Tomić case" in which Dinamo was awarded the title by court decision, but the Federation attributed it to Hajduk. The competition was still "in its infancy", Red Star came to Zagreb in the 6th round match, a week after Dinamo played 3-3 away against Partizan, in another derby against rivals from Belgrade.

At that time, the table included Dinamo's two points from the 1st round in which the match against Rijeka was registered as 3-0 without a fight in favor of the Zagreb side. Rijeka had, despite Dinamo's previous collegial warning, fielded Edmond Tomić who had no right to play due to yellow cards. Rijeka won 2-1 with Tomić in the lineup, the controversial player assisted for the hosts' second goal, Dinamo complained, and the Federation registered the match as 3-0 without a fight in Dinamo's favor.

However, in the spring, only after the 19th round, at a time when it was clear that Dinamo was in a tight race for the championship title, the Federation suddenly restructured the table, erased two points from the blues and put Hajduk at the top. It did this by annulling the decision that the 1st round match between Rijeka and Dinamo be registered as a 3-0 administrative victory for the Zagreb side. Still in mid-March, after the 19th round, Dinamo had a two-point advantage over second-placed Hajduk, but just then the Federation annulled the result from the 1st round and registered it as a 2-1 victory for Rijeka. With those two points deducted, the Federation put Hajduk in first place.

At the end of the season, Hajduk and Dinamo had identical points on that restructured table, the Split side were first due to better goal difference, but the Court later returned the points from the 1st round to the blues by registering the match as 3-0 w.o. The decision has not yet been implemented in the archives.

At the derby against Red Star at Maksimir Stadium, as many as 60,000 spectators gathered, and despite Dinamo's good start to the match and control of the game, the visitors still took the lead. In the 22nd minute, Cvjetin Blagojević received the ball about 30 meters from goal, embarked on a run during which no one followed him, he emerged alone in front of the goalkeeper and easily shook the net. The blues eagerly went for an equalizer and managed to achieve it in the 38th minute. Velimir Zajec crossed from the left, the ball bounced in a high arc along the way, and then Vilson Džoni was in full flight and powerfully volleyed into the goal.

Referee Edvard Šoštarič from Maribor officiated his first derby that day, it was his debut season in the elite division, and for his performance he received a negative rating which at that time automatically meant a four-match suspension.

Šoštarič pointed to the penalty spot for the visitors in the 41st minute, believing that Srećko Bogdan played with his hand in his penalty area. He, however, claimed that the ball hit him in the shoulder. Dušan Savić scored from the penalty spot.

Soon after, Dinamo was close to another equalizer. Džoni crossed, Marko Mlinarić headed in a jump, the ball bounced off the crossbar after which Ivica Poljak ran up and shot over the goal.

However, the equalizing goal came in the 64th minute. The scorer was Ivica Senzen less than three minutes after he came off the bench. Bogdan crossed, Snješko Cerin failed to catch the ball, but Senzen was there and sent it into the net.

Shortly after, Zdravko Borovnica fouled Zajec in his penalty area, but referee Šoštarič did not point to the penalty spot, which was one of the reasons for the later negative rating and suspension.

The best player of the match was, in the journalists' selection, declared to be Vilson Džoni who received a commemorative plaque immediately after the match.