While Manchester City and Liverpool battle for the English Premier League title, a Wellington lawyer is on the verge of being crowned Fantasy Premier League champion.
Fantasy Premier League's top scorer, Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah, and the FPL side of RNZ's Max Towle. Photo: Photosport / Fantasy Premier League
With just two rounds remaining, Adam Levy leads more than 6.3 million players in the global Fantasy Premier League competition.
Fantasy Premier League (FPL) is a worldwide phenomenon and something of a cult for sport fans. The game has inspired websites, podcasts and message boards where obsessives vie to finish as high up the world rankings as possible.
To play, players must select which real-life footballers they think are going to have a successful game, for instance, score a goal, make an assist, or keep a clean sheet. The better the footballers do, the more points players receive.
Screenshot of RNZ reporter and FPL nut Max Towle's most recent round. Photo: Supplied / Max Towle
Levy is on 2548 points for the season and holds a 68 point advantage over two players from the USA and Oman.
Currently, fourth place is a further six points behind, while fifth is a further seven points afield.
Levy has held the lead since week 29 of the Premier League, holding the top spot for an impressive eight straight weeks.
His best finish in FPL was last year - finishing just inside the top 11,000 - which in itself is a top achievement.
The winner of the Fantasy Premier League season wins a seven-night trip to the UK with VIP tickets to two Premier League matches.
Levy has turned down media requests from multiple news agencies until after the Premier League's last round on 13 May - when he hopes to be victorious and be the envy of more than 6 million players.