Meet the current world number one in Fantasy Premier League: 'It's my first time playing!'

Erik Rantala Ibsen is the world's current number one in Fantasy Premier League Erik Rantala Ibsen Share articleThere’s beginner’s luck and then there’s lording it over more than 13 million other players in a game that you “hadn’t considered playing before”. Meet Erik Rantala Ibsen, a 23-year-old medical student from Denmark who is the world’s current number one in Fantasy Premier League. Ibsen has held on to the number one spot since Gameweek 29, which concluded on March 5, and now has just four gameweeks to go as he battles to finish top of the pile. So what is it like to be the game’s current top dog globally, and what approach will Ibsen take as he bids to stay in first place over the run-in? Abdul Rehman asks the man himself. My name is Erik Rantala Ibsen. I am half-Danish, half-Finish and I live in Odense, Denmark. I am a student at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU), where I am a fourth-semester medical student. I am an absolute football fanatic and I have always loved to play and keep up with the sport. When I was younger, my dream was to be a football manager, and I guess that has become a reality in some way with FPL. Honestly, it feels quite surreal. It has been a crazy few weeks now being top of FPL. It has been quite stressful as well. I have been overthinking everything I do, but at the same time, there is only so much that I can do. I can feel the nerves have been creeping into the choices I make, and I almost feel like I need to try and predict everything now — but I think I just need to stay calm and trust the decisions that I make. Now I would say that I am a hardcore FPL player, but it’s my first time playing, so it has been completely insane to be the world’s number one. I started to play this season after my sister asked for some help with my thoughts on some players, as she was going to play in her work league. I ended up deep-diving the research to help her out. After that, I ended up taking the plunge to try with my own team and competing against her — and now, after getting completely hooked and addicted to FPL, here we are. I just don’t think I had considered playing FPL before. I have always loved football and keeping up with the Premier League, but I don’t think I ever really found the time. I ended up having a terrible start, threw everything out the window with a wildcard in Gameweek 2, and after that, I just got hooked. I became obsessed and had such a good time analysing, planning and thinking about what my next moves could be. Winning it wasn’t even a consideration when the season started, to be honest, and it has been a crazy experience to be in this position now after Gameweek 34. I started out at around 8.9millionth in the world after Gameweek 1, and wildcarding to completely shake up my team in Gameweek 2 was a crazy decision. But I think that was huge. I ended up having plenty of players who’ve ended up being brilliant: some of the most consistent scorers for the season. I have focused on just beating the average every week and not trying to reinvent different strategies and plans. I have been very patient with holding onto players and have also been lucky that the players I have invested into have done so well. I think the key this season has been patience. In the first half, it was quite a mess. A Wildcard in Gameweek 32, a Bench Boost once my team looked good, a Free Hit when my team looked bad and Triple Captain once Erling Haaland faced Burnley (in Gameweek 6) as he is just a monster against lower-table teams. I was very lucky with my triple captain, as with all my chips in the first half of the season. For the second half of the season, I have been very patient. I read up and studied what the “experts” were anticipating in terms of doubles and blanks, and, as it’s my first season, had to use plenty of time to try to understand what that even means. Patience was key. Even when Gabriel was doubling and everyone was looking to Triple Captain him, I held off as I wasn’t convinced. Now, after Wildcard in Gameweek 32, Bench Boost in 33 and Free Hit in 34, I have the last four gameweeks to go with a Triple Captain chip left over. I think the obvious move will be to drop it on Haaland when Manchester City have a double in Gameweek 36. Probably Declan Rice. He has been such a consistent player and such a good asset to own. I also have been a huge fan of Igor Thiago. He was at such a low price at the start of the season (£6.0m) and has just been an absolute beast. Competing for the Golden Boot with Haaland? I don’t think people were expecting that. My best one was to Wildcard in Gameweek 2. I completely changed up my team but had plenty of players that ended up being huge in regard to total points. I think any expert would have deemed me crazy but I think it was also essential to having such a good season. My worst decision was probably selling Antoine Semenyo when he got sold to Manchester City by Bournemouth. I really thought he would lose his touch and the consistency he had, so I had a good two months without him before I deemed him too good an asset not to own. I do rely on data to get a better view of my thoughts and the decisions I am considering, and it can also help me see trends and understand considerations I have for different players, and the moves I am thinking of. I think I use a good mix of my own plans, thoughts and opinions, but also stats to support those choices. I think the next few weeks will be very interesting as I still have my Triple Captain left and a lot of people at the top all have almost identical teams from using chips in the past few weeks, so Gameweeks 35 and 36 will look very similar. The only huge changes we can make are from the free transfers we have stocked up (unless we want to take a points hit). I think the biggest thing right now is getting my captain right for the last four gameweeks. Otherwise, it is just focusing on where I can find better value with the players that I have and with the changes that I can make. I think Gameweek 35 is straightforward for me as I planned for this in Gameweek 32, when I used my wildcard. I left Gabriel and Thiago purposely in my team so that coming into this gameweek, it wouldn’t need my changes. There may be a consideration about who to captain, but think the main choices are Bruno Fernandes, Haaland, Cole Palmer and Gabriel. I think it would be completely surreal. It would be an insane experience while playing for the first time. It would be incredible, but even finishing in the top 10 would be insane. It has been an amazing season, and if you told me at the start I would be top 100, even top 10, and even number one at one point, I would’ve thought you were joking. Let’s see how the last few weeks play out. I have usually watched games at home with some friends from my dorm but now, even for a game like Burnley vs Brighton (earlier this month), I think about going to a bar to watch it, because I almost feel like celebrating every clean sheet, every defensive contribution, every goal and assist. I think the next few games will just be at home, but if the season still looks good going into the last week, watching with some friends could be a really fun experience. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms