The 2024-25 FPL champion on how he beat 11.5m players and why he's thankful to Oliver Glasner

New York Times

a day ago

It feels good to be on top of the world: especially when you've beaten more than 11.5million others to become the world No 1 in Fantasy Premier League.
While many spend their time fixating over competing against friends, family and colleagues in mini-leagues, there can only be one overall winner and when Gameweek 38 concluded last weekend, top spot went to Lovro Budisin, who finished 23 points ahead of his nearest challenger. He summited to No 1 overall in Gameweek 31 and impressively stayed there since.
The was his fifth season playing and here, he tells us his story, how it feels to be the FPL champion and what he considers the keys to his success.
My name is Lovro Budisin. I'm 24 years old and I study geodesy (the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space, and gravity field) in Zagreb.
I've been playing handball since I was a child, up until university. I enjoy following sports and having a good time with friends, listening to good music and playing cards. Here in Croatia, the pace of life is slower, especially in smaller towns. We prefer to spend our Saturday and Sunday mornings socialising at cafes, followed by a family lunch and then, at least in my circle, we watch sports for the rest of the day.
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Evenings are full of life — hanging out over a drink or two, sometimes even a bit more.
The feeling is incredible, even though I'm still not fully aware of everything. Everything changed all of a sudden — I started using email more often, created a profile on X, and have already done quite a few interviews, even including a podcast on the Croatian YouTube channel Tribina. It's a big shift for someone who's not used to media obligations.
On top of all that, I have a lot of university responsibilities, so I haven't even had time to celebrate this probably once-in-a-lifetime success. I hope to finish all my university-related tasks and, at some point during the summer, have a celebration with my friends.
Congratulations to our 2024/25 #FPL champion, Lovro Budisin 🎉 pic.twitter.com/X2BqAH5RKK
— Fantasy Premier League (@OfficialFPL) May 25, 2025
In the final gameweek, it was more about not messing things up than actually needing anything. The half-time results were more than favourable for me. I was defending a 36-point lead — it should have been 40 but, in all the rush and panic, I decided to take a four-point hit after hearing that Kevin De Bruyne wasn't starting, so I brought in Bukayo Saka, who also ended up not starting.
That wasn't the best decision but luckily, it didn't have much impact on the final result anyway. In the last round, I was focused more on checking the teams of the players chasing first place and tried to guess who they might bring in.
Oh, that's a really tough question, to be honest. I'm a big fan of the Premier League in general but I don't support a specific team. I actually think that's one of the reasons it's easier for me to build my squad and make transfers.
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Since I'm a student, I can't go whenever I want, so I've decided I'll most likely go in the second half of the season. I'll have more time then and the weather will be nicer too.
Once the schedule comes out, I'll take a closer look and know more. I know that whatever I choose, I probably can't go wrong.
I watched the final games on a tablet and two phones, since the HNL (the Hrvatska nogometna liga, Croatia's top flight) matches — where three teams were fighting for the title — were being played at the same time, and I had those on the TV. I'm used to watching multiple matches at once, so it wasn't a problem for me.
I believe that the most important thing in life is to trust yourself. At the same time, you should be open to advice from people around you — and in this case, from well-known FPL experts — but in the end, every decision has to be yours alone. All the information you gather can be useful but you should rely mostly on yourself, which is, in essence, the hardest part.
Most people follow others' moves. It's clear they either lack the knowledge or don't have the courage to follow their own instincts, even if it goes against most popular picks. For me, this season, trusting my gut helped a lot — that was the key to my success.
The stats speak for themselves. Mohamed Salah is the player I captained the most this season and he was the most logical choice. I believe that choosing the right captain is a major factor in achieving success.
Also, I made a few really good decisions, like holding on to Phil Foden, who brought in 42 points between Gameweek 20 and Gameweek 22. I also made some well-judged 50-50 calls, like picking Jakub Kiwior in Gameweek 33, even though William Saliba was more expensive and considered the better option by most — but I trusted my gut.
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There were also a few risky captain choices that paid off, and I let go of certain players at the right time. I also have to mention Chris Wood, Eberechi Eze, and Jarrod Bowen. Eze and Bowen especially were a big help in the final gameweeks, while Wood was a player I used at different points throughout the season.
Every gameweek is stressful in its own way. We all know that matches feel completely different when your fantasy picks are playing but for me, the most stressful moment was Gameweek 26 and an infamous 'late' transfer involving coach Oliver Glasner (who earned 20 points when his Crystal Palace side beat Fulham).
I always keep track of the transfer deadline but at that moment, I was at dinner with family friends and time just flew by.
Thank God — though I still don't know how or why — I suddenly looked at my watch and saw the bad news that I'd missed the (6.30pm UK time/ 1.30pm ET) deadline. It was a minute afterwards and I was instantly hit with panic.
I quickly opened the app and, somehow, I was still able to make the transfer. I didn't think too much in that moment — I just immediately switched to Glasner and exited the app. A few minutes later, I saw that the deadline had actually been moved back by 30 minutes.
To this day, I don't understand how that happened but I'm not complaining — I would've been really disappointed in myself if I had missed it.
Honestly, I don't spend as much time on it as people probably think. I follow sports in general — from football and basketball to handball and combat sports.
It's part of my everyday life, so I don't really spend a lot of extra time researching fantasy. FPL comes up almost daily in conversations with friends who also play this game.
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I spend the most time in front of the computer during the final hour before the deadline. That's when I follow well-known YouTubers, who usually share useful information about injuries, who's starting, who's on the bench, and so on.
Well, to start with, watch a tutorial on YouTube or ask a friend to walk you through the basic rules and point out the key things that help while playing.
It's very important to understand that team value plays a big role. In the second half of the season, if you've managed to build up enough value, you can have a strong team where even the players on your bench are good enough to be in the starting line-up — and you can still expect returns from them.
Keep an eye on price rises and falls, but don't get rid of a player at all costs just to avoid losing 0.1 million. Don't stress about your rank every gameweek. The season is long and things can change quickly.
Take risks when you feel they might pay off. Not every decision will be the right one but, if everyone has the same players and follows the same advice, the game loses its magic.
In the final gameweek, the Premier League title will be decided by a late wonder goal.