TMS Group ship-finance executive Eugenia Soula has achieved a notable first in the Shipping Research Fantasy Football League.
The George Economou company representative won the manager of the month award for April, becoming the only woman to land the prize in the 10 years the competition for analysts and brokers has been running.
The league, based on results in the UK’s top division, has a new record number of 68 people playing this season, with a prize pot of £680 ($785).
The organiser — shipping economist Vivek Srivastava — said April was a marathon month with six game weeks, which Soula navigated with great guile.
She began, very controversially, with no Manchester City players, not even one-man cheat code Erling Haaland.
Soula instead bet on a week when 12 of her 15 players had two games, racking up a colossal 139 points — more than any player managed in the whole month of September.
The TMS executive then brought in Haaland and teammate Jack Grealish to win big in the remaining period.
Srivastava said: “TMS Group has been on a newbuilding ordering spree of late, having contracted several tankers and bulkers in China, even at dormant yards.”
“Do they know something the rest of us don’t? Well, we know that our league has certainly seen a ... giant awaken from her slumbers in the East (Med),” he added.
The race is now on to be crowned the overall champion for the year.
Managers are scrambling for Newcastle and Brighton players like VLCC owners trying to fix one last voyage before Opec cuts again, Srivastava added.
Soula has narrowed the gap to leader Oscar Ulstein of MAP to just 33 points with three weeks left.
