In the end, it turned out to be Dinamo's most difficult step towards the cup. The story of the coin toss that took Dinamo to the next round of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in autumn 1966 – later the UEFA Cup, or Europa League – has already taken on "mythical proportions". After both Czech side Spartak Brno and Zagreb's Dinamo won their respective home matches by identical 2-0 scorelines, the overall winner was decided by a draw. Or "in translation" – a coin toss.

At that time, there was no rule whereby the overall winner would be determined by penalty kicks. The Zagreb club had, for example, already in 1940 in the Central European Mitropa Cup also depended on a draw, but then it looked somewhat different. The opponent in the semi-final was Rapid Bucharest, after two draws a third match was played on neutral ground in Subotica, and when that encounter also ended without a winner, a draw decided: drawing a slip from a hat. Fortune then smiled on the Romanians. This time the execution of the draw was somewhat different: without a hat, but with – a coin. The Blues experienced drama in a similar way in autumn 1963 in the 1st round of the Cup Winners' Cup against Austrian LASK. Then a third match was played, on LASK's ground in Linz, and Dinamo progressed by draw. This time, therefore, at the start of the famous 1966/67 season, there was no rule for a third encounter, but there was one about the draw. A coin decided...

Dinamo progressed, according to the accounts of the participants themselves, after several tosses because the coin kept landing between the grass blades, on "edge", then it was lost at the centre circle, and in all that commotion the Maksimir players began jumping and celebrating the progression prematurely. In such chaos, the coin eventually did indeed turn in Dinamo's favour. The participants themselves, years later when retelling this story, would sometimes "get lost in the maze of different versions".

The Blues, therefore, opened the competition with an away match in Czech Brno against Spartak, a club now known by the name Zbrojovka. In that first encounter, Mladen Ramljak and Marijan Brnčić did not play. Ramljak was also absent from the second leg.

Dinamo started the second leg furiously. Already in the 4th minute Anđelko Pavić skilfully curled the ball into the middle, and captain Slaven Zambata spectacularly found the bottom corner with a diving effort. However, it took more than an hour to wait for the next goal that would "nullify" the Czechs' lead from the first match. The hero was Hrvoje Jukić who cleverly reacted in a scramble in the 74th minute and hammered the ball into the net for 2-0.

Dinamo was also helped by the fact that visiting defender Josef Bouška had to leave the pitch due to injury early in the second half. The rules of this competition at the time only allowed substitution of the goalkeeper, but not outfield players, which meant Spartak was reduced to ten men from the 48th minute. After 2-0 in 90 minutes of play, extra time followed of twice 15 minutes, and the Blues had a great opportunity right at the start. In the first minute of extra time a penalty was awarded to Dinamo, but Ivica Kiš hit the – crossbar from the spot.