Opponent quit while I was leading. no rewards

I’m reporting an issue that just happened to me in NHL 26 HUT, and I strongly suspect it might be an exploit or cheat used by my opponent to avoid losses.

I was leading the game when the opponent suddenly quit mid-match. Normally, when an opponent quits, the remaining player is automatically awarded a win and the corresponding rewards. However, as soon as the game returned to the menus, I was greeted with an error message saying Can't relegate at this rank.

As a result of this I did not receive any XP or coins for the win. My Ranked standing/points (CR) did not increase at all. It was as if the match never even happened, despite me leading before they quit.

It seems highly likely that the opponent used some sort of connection manipulation or "glitch quit" exploit to leave the match without registering a loss, effectively keeping their record clean while robbing the winning player of their rewards.

Has anyone else encountered this specific "Can't relegate" error after an opponent quits? Is EA aware of this possible exploit?