Fantasy Premier League champion stripped of title over allegedly offensive comments

The manager at the top of the league has been disqualified, with the second-place team being crowned champion.

Yesterday, Fantasy Premier League announced the winner of its 2019/2020 season, with Southampton fan and University of Oxford mathematician Joshua Bull taking home the trophy. But it appears that Bull was actually in second place until the manager at the top of the league was removed and essentially stripped of their title due to a "breach of terms".

Due to a breach of our terms, the team formerly occupying the number one position has been removed from #FPL ? https://t.co/kDlOb5hZN8 pic.twitter.com/wfKs11xcVH

— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 11, 2020

Now more details have emerged about what happened. The Guardian reports that Bulgarian Aleksandar Antonov was set to be announced as the winner, until "in a moment of frustration" he made offensive comments about a Premier League player. The player is believed to be Raheem Sterling. Antonov was informed on Tuesday morning that he was being disqualified from the league. Antonov tweeted: "Can I just say quickly... I am not racist. OK, that’s all I had to say, bye." He then added: "The behaviour was explained to the [FPL] in two pages and I respect their decision... I would never say anything like that to a player with the intent to offend them, it’s a small chat with friends, in a different language and different culture." According to Fantasy Premier League's terms and conditions, "In the event of any breach by you of these terms and conditions, the Premier League reserves the right to: a) refuse entry to the Game; b) disqualify you from the Game; c) require any reasonable amendment to your application or entry." Joshua Bull's Bulldozers scored 68 points in the final gameweek of the season, helped by playing his Wildcard. He beat out competition from Chris McGowan’s Aúpa Atleti and Will Turner’s Martial Mata’s LP to hang on and secure the title. This was Bull's team on the last day of the season, in case you are interested. The Bulldozers' front line consisted of Tottenham's Harry Kane, Southampton's Danny Ings and Manchester City's Gabriel Jesus, with Kane picking up 18 points on the final week. However, his top scorer for the week was Manchester City's midfield genius Kevin De Bruyne, who racked up 19 points.