The Premier League announced on Tuesday that the winner of this season's Fantasy Premier League title has been disqualified from the competition.
Aleksandar Antonov had topped the table at the conclusion of the season. The Bulgarian said that he had been stripped of the title for "things I said in a private Facebook messenger chat several months ago". Those things were about a player. The Premier League called it a "breach of terms".
Instead, Joshua Bull has been declared the winner.
"Joshua Bull has been confirmed as the overall winner of Fantasy Premier League 2019/20," the Premier League said in a statement.
Following end-of-season checks, final standings have been updated within the game, leaving Southampton fan Joshua and his team 'The Bulldozers' top of the table.
His score of 68 in Gameweek 38+, in which he played his Wildcard, was enough to hold off the challenge of Chris McGowan’s Aúpa Atleti and Will Turner’s Martial Mata’s LP.
The team formerly occupying the No 1 position has been removed from FPL due to a breach of our terms.
In a video posted to his TooGoodFPL YouTube channel, Antonov explained his version of events.
"Things I said in a private Facebook messenger chat several months ago with five or so of my friends found its way to the EPL [English Premier League] and after looking at it the EPL decided to exercise their right as administers of the game to remove me as the winner and annul my points for the season," he said.
"Here, of course, I have to clarify a bit. What we write with my friends in our chats is football banter, I’m sure its not that different generally from most of your football banter chats. Sometimes we, or at least, many of us, are in awe of our football idols and praise them in such conservations and sometimes we are frustrated at them and are mean to them with our words.
"The reason for my disqualification is a moment of frustration with a player that I put into words, written between friends, it was never meant to offend any footballer on any basis. It is not something I posted or said directly towards a footballer or in the public eye with the aim to offend them and it wasn’t something I shouted at the stadium.
"I was disqualified from the 2019-20 FPL season because something was taken out of context to a large extent from a small Bulgarian private chat by a person that certainly doesn’t wish me well in life and made me look like something I’m not to the FPL and EPL and they had to make their decision."
7.6 million people played Fantasy Premier League in the 2019/20 season. Antonov had jumped from third to first in the final game week.
"Wow, so it looks like the longest FPL season is getting even longer," Joshua Bull tweeted on Tuesday.
"For everyone tweeting, I don't know what's going on either - I had an email from FPL this morning telling me that I've won(!), but I don't know why.
"(...and to address the obvious - clearly this isn't how I would have wanted to win, and I don't know any more than the rest of you about what's happened!)"
Following end of season checks, final standings have been updated. We can confirm that Joshua Bull is the official 2019/20 #FPL champion.
Congratulations @JoshuaABull 👏 pic.twitter.com/KsRO8yIi9W
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) August 11, 2020
Picture credit: The Dark Knight / Shutterstock.com
