As countless managers across the globe build, tweak and plan their squads for the new campaign, some fared better than others last season - whether that be via world rankings or in highly competitive mini-leagues with friends, family and colleagues.

As far as FPL’s vast contingent of Gooners is concerned, nobody topped Croatian competitor Ivan Peula in 2025/26. Ivan, a lifelong Arsenal supporter, won the Gunners’ fans league with an astounding 2,536 points across 38 Gameweeks with his side, named ‘Team Peki’. This total was also enough to earn a place in the worldwide overall top three, where he scooped bronze - just 44 points short of world champion Erik Ibsen.

In a bid to close the gap on the overall champion and seal his title win in the Arsenal fans’ league, Ivan relied on captain choices such as Gabriel and Bukayo Saka in red and white, alongside external success stories such as Bruno Fernandes and Virgil van Dijk. Gameweek 38 saw him make a bold but beneficial call to hand the armband to Jarrod Bowen of West Ham United for a last-gasp 24-point haul.

We spoke with Ivan over the summer to crunch some of his vital strategies, and find out quite how he managed such an incredible performance over the course of the campaign - suitably matching that of his beloved Gunners.

“I was really happy to win the Arsenal fans’ league - I’ve supported the club all my life, so it means a lot to me,” he said.

“It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life. I never thought I could win the Arsenal fans’ league or finish so high in the world rankings. It was with 12 Gameweeks to go that I moved into the top 100, which I never considered possible - from then on, the aim was just to stay there.

“I’ve been playing FPL every year since 2017/18, so this was my ninth season. Before this year, I hadn’t achieved any notable results.”

We then turned to the tactical success behind Ivan’s triumphant campaign, including how he utilised some of the best assets in our first-team squad - none more so than Big Gabi, who smashed the 200-point milestone even despite an injury lay-off early in the season.

“I had Gabriel, Declan Rice and David Raya for most of the season. I brought Declan in after Bukayo Saka got an early injury, and Bukayo had been my captain at the start. When Gabriel got injured, I brought in Piero Hincapie. I’d like to thank them all for how they helped me last season.

“I didn’t have a good start. After the first five Gameweeks, I was placing at around 1.8million in the overall rankings. My overall ranking improved by identifying players about to hit form before other managers did. By Gameweek 21, I was in the top thousand in the world, and it got better from there.

“I watched a lot of matches and tried to base decisions on what I saw - both with Arsenal and other teams. There was one particular moment when I started to notice I was really climbing the rankings. In Gameweek 18 against Brighton, Gabriel came on around the 70th minute having returned from injury. A lot of managers hesitated to bring him back in the following Gameweek to see how his recovery would go, but I brought him in against Aston Villa - he scored and also earned clean sheet points as he was substituted before Villa scored. I feel slightly luckier from those decisions.”

Ivan’s transfer policy was simple - not a single ‘additional’ transfer for a four-point hit was taken, and he also explained the varying fortunes of his chips throughout the year.

He admitted his early-season chips did not go to plan, and that once his team was effectively salvaged by a Wildcard, he then reaped the rewards of his strategies following the turn of the year. A huge gamble also paid off for the Croatian, who saved his second Wildcard until the final match of the season.

“My first Triple Captain and Free Hit didn’t go well at all - they caused a big drop in my rank, and my first Triple Captain blanked with only two points. Both my second Triple Captain and Free Hit worked out much better, and both of my Bench Boosts were solid and helped me move up the rankings.

“The most important chip for me was the Wildcard. After a poor start, it helped me rebuild my team. I also managed to save my second Wildcard until the final Gameweek, and the points I scored in GW38 were crucial to my final position.

“I didn’t take any additional transfers all season. Sometimes I would save a few and use them at once, and sometimes I would go one-by-one each Gameweek.”

While taking the glory among every Arsenal fan in the Fantasy community last term and entering the overall world podium, Ivan’s ‘Team Peki’ was also the unrivalled winner of several mini-leagues.

In 2025/26, he and his friends continued their tradition of a private division, of which he was certainly the undisputed winner at a canter - as well as joining various other communal leagues.

“I have one very small mini-league with 10 friends that’s been active since I started playing FPL,” Ivan explained.

“If I happened to come across a league code that I could join when following FPL news then I would do, but nothing more than that.

“For sure, winning the Arsenal fans’ league is something I consider really special and I’m so proud to have achieved it.”

FPL players are reminded that you can build and confirm your squad anytime before the deadline on Gameweek 1, which drops on Friday, August 21 at 6:30pm - 90 minutes before the Gunners lift the curtain on the 2026/27 Premier League campaign against Coventry City at Emirates Stadium.