BY SPORT REPORTER
ALPHA Media Holdings online content creator Kudakwashe Gahadzikwa has scooped the inaugural Shumba Money Fantasy Premier League top prize.
Gahadzikwa also emerged the best Fantasy Premier League player in Zimbabwe after amassing a total 2 721 points over the 38 English top flight league game weeks, beating 47 671 other competitors in the country.
The local financial services company Shumba Money had pledged US$1 000 for the top three players and Gahadzikwa beat 4 630 competitors to walk away with the US$500 winner’s prize.
Fantasy football is a game in which participants become football coaches and assemble an imaginary team of real life football players to score points based on those players’ actual statistical performance or their perceived contribution on the field of play.
In most cases players are selected from one specific division in a particular country, in this case the English Premier League.
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Over the years, Fantasy football has evolved from a simple recreational activity into a significant business due to exposure via the internet.
“I worked hard to be the Zimbabwean number 1 FPL player. It was a long season with ups and downs but now that we have reached the end of the season, I am elated that I managed to achieve my season goal of being the top Zimbabwean Fpl player. I would like to thank Shumba Money for recognising this achievement,” Gahadzikwa said after receiving his prize money at the Shumba Money offices last week.
Gahadzikwa finished in 461 place out of over 9,1 million FPL players globally.
Apart from Shumba Money, other top corporate companies in the country also ran popular Fantasy leagues
“First of all I want to say congratulations to Kuda for winning the inaugural Shumba Money Fantasy Premier League competition. It’s such a big feat considering the big number of entries we had,” Shumba Money chief executive officer Andrew Dauramanzi said.
It was a long season. A hard season. An unexpected season. But for some it was a winning season. Congratulations to our top 3!! 1. Kudakwashe Gahadzikwa2. Daniel Mazhindu3. Zim FPL
Please may Daniel and ZimFPL contact us to collect their prizes. pic.twitter.com/eyGbS8n9oh
— Shumba Money Official (@shumba_money) May 27, 2022
“What motivated us to start this league is that everyone at Shumba Money loves football and Fantasy Football and we just thought it would be good to create a league where we can also play with people who follow us.
“And also just to get our name out there in the market and I think we will be running this league for many years to come if of course our marketing manager approves.
“Shumba Money is a remittance company which specialises in sending and receiving money primarily from the UK, Canada, Australia, Botswana and also sending money from Zimbabwe to various countries in Southern Africa and in Europe. We also send money locally and do payments such as for DSTV while we are a local ‘bureau de change’,” Dauramanzi added.