The Premier League have disqualified the original winner of their 2019-20 Fantasy game, with reports stating his fantasy team was deleted for 'racist messages about Raheem Sterling' sent in a private Facebook chat.
Bulgarian player Aleksandar Antonov, who has a YouTube channel on Fantasy football called TooGoodFPL, was announced as the winner following the final round of Premier League games on July 26, finishing 18 points clear of second-placed Joshua Bull.
Yet the Premier League confirmed on Tuesday that Antonov has 'been removed from FPL due to a breach of our terms', and the Bulgarian touched on the nature of why he was disqualified in a YouTube video on Tuesday afternoon - but did not go into specifics. A report from Bulgarian news website Gong.bg however states that it was for 'racist statements made against the Manchester City striker Sterling.'
Sportsmail contacted the Premier League for clarification on why the original winner was removed from the game, and the reported insult against Sterling, but refused to comment and did not elaborate on Tuesday morning's statement.
'Somehow, and in some way, things that I said in a private Facebook messenger chat with five of my friends found its way to the EPL (English Premier League),' Antonov says in his YouTube statement.
'In response the EPL decided to exercise their right and remove me as the winner and to annul my points for the season.
'To clarify, what we write in our chats is football banter. And for sure it's not something different generally from football banter chats...
'The reason for my disqualification is a moment of frustration with a player put into words, written between friends - it was never meant to offend any footballer on any basis.
'I was disqualified from the 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 EPL.'
City forward Sterling, 26, was part of the England side which played Bulgaria in Sofia in October 2019, when play was stopped twice due to racist behaviour including Nazi salutes and monkey chanting.
Earlier in the day, in response to query on social media as to whether he had multiple teams and that was the reason he was disqualified, Antonov said: 'This is an easy one - no, I did not try to cheat in a game I play for fun.
'For more, tune in tonight, have a dayjob after all. Joshua Bull, congrats (sic) on the win. Not the way you wanted to win it, not the way I wanted to lose it.'
Meanwhile Bull, an Oxford University cancer researcher, could not hide his shock and excitement at being named as the official winner of Fantasy Premier League 2019-20, played by 7.6 million people.
'Wow, so it looks like the longest FPL season is getting even longer...' he began on his Twitter page on Tuesday morning.
'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!'
Rather comically, Bull has also updated his Twitter bio to include: '#FPL OR 1? 2? Your guess is as good as mine?'
The updated standings also means World chess champion Magnus Carlsen finishes in the top-10 worldwide, 42 points behind new winner Bull.
