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Fantasy Premier League winner disqualified over alleged racist slur aimed at Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Norwich City  - Getty Images
Raheem Sterling of Manchester City during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Norwich City - Getty Images

The winner of the Fantasy Premier League was disqualified on Tuesday over an alleged racist slur about Raheem Sterling in a social media chat group.

Aleksandar Antonov, a Bulgarian, said on his YouTube channel that his comment had been taken out of context but he accepted a ruling by the league that he had breached the tournament terms.

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. Prizes include a seven-night holiday and VIP tickets to Premier League games next season.

According to reports on Gong.bg in his home country, authorities were alerted by another member of the private Facebook chat about an offensive comment about Sterling.

The embarrassment for the competition comes less than a week after the Football Association warned real players that private messages on WhatsApp, retweets and ‘likes’ will be subject to new punishments for racist behaviour.

Under new sanctioning guidelines for next season, players face bans between six and 12 matches if found guilty of “almost all acts of discrimination”.

In his YouTube statement, Antonov said his actions had been misinterpreted. "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)," he said.

"In response the EPL decided to exercise their right and remove me as the winner and to annul my points for the season."

He later wrote on Twitter: "I am not racist. OK, that's all I had to say, bye."

In his place, Oxford University mathematician Joshua Bull, 29, was declared champion. Bull, an academic specialising in applying mathematics to cancer research, said he learned about 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.

A statement from the Premier League confirmed 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."