Fantasy Premier League new winner after disqualification

An Oxford University mathematician has been declared champion of this year's Fantasy Premier League after the original winner was disqualified.

Joshua Bull, 29, said he was ecstatic to have been unexpectedly told he had beaten more than seven million fellow football strategists to the title.

The Premier League said original winner Aleksandar Antonov was stripped of his crown for "a breach of our terms".

Mr Antonov congratulated Mr Bull but denied he had cheated.

The free-to-enter competition has become the world's biggest fantasy football contest and involves competitors being awarded points depending on how well the players they choose fare in matches.

Mr Antonov said on his YouTube channel that he was removed from the competition because of a private message he sent to friends which was "taken out of context" after being forwarded to the Premier League.

A Premier League spokesman said it would not be commenting further.

Mr Bull, who is an academic specialising in applying mathematics to cancer research, said he learned about Mr Antonov's disqualification in an email from the Premier League on Tuesday morning.

He said it was not "the way I would have wanted to win" but he was still looking forward to celebrating.

Mr Bull, who said this was the first year he had taken the competition seriously, will receive prizes including a seven-night break in the UK and two VIP tickets to matches in next season's Premier League.

However, he said the "real victory" for him was knowing he had beaten his friends and family, particularly his sister Rachel.

A statement from the Premier League confirmed Mr Bull had been declared champion, and added: "The team formerly occupying the No 1 position has been removed from FPL due to a breach of our terms."