London Spitfire is a professional Overwatch team representing the city of London, United Kingdom. The Spitfire compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, London Spitfire is one of the league's twelve founding members and is the only professional Overwatch team representing a European city. The team is owned by Jack Etienne and the esports organization Cloud9, who also own British Hurricane, an academy team for the Spitfire that competed in Overwatch Contenders (OWC).
Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon was appointed the team's first head coach and guided London to claim the league's first stage championship in 2018. While the team parted ways with Bishop later that season, the team went on win the inaugural season Grand Finals.
Franchise history
Team creation
Formed in March 2016, London Spitfire originally started out as the Overwatch branch of American esports organisation Cloud9. Under variations of the Cloud9 moniker, such as Cloud9 KONGDOO, they would go on to field rosters from multiple continents during their pre-OWL tenure.
On 10 August 2017, Activision Blizzard announced that Cloud9 had purchased the London Overwatch League franchise; the franchise would be the first and only European team heading into the inaugural season. Pete Vlastelica, an executive in Activision Blizzard's esports division, reported that several unnamed European companies were interested in purchasing the London rights to hold an Overwatch League franchise. Vlastelica noted, "Cloud9 may be a new name for some in the traditional sports world, but I can assure you they are not a niche or fringe player in esports. As we build this league, it was really important to us to combine the capabilities of owners from both traditional sports and the world of esports." Jack Etienne, chief executive Cloud9, paid roughly $20 million (£15.4 million) for the franchise slot. Etienne said that he chose the London slot because it is a "fantastic city with an amazing metro population [and] fantastic transportation to get people to events."
On 1 November, the team revealed they would be called London Spitfire. Shortly afterwards on 4 November, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of South Korean players. The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 4 champions GC Busan.
Inaugural season champions: 2018
On 11 January, the Spitfire played their first regular season Overwatch League match in a 3–1 victory over the Florida Mayhem. They would end Stage 1 of the 2018 Season with a record, earning them the third and final spot in the Stage 1 Playoffs. The team then became the first-ever stage playoffs champions, after achieving victories over the Houston Outlaws, 3–1, and the New York Excelsior, 3–2. In March, midway through Stage 2, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons. The team finished Stage 2 with an improved record and attained another stage playoffs berth. However, they fell short to the Philadelphia Fusion in a thrilling 2–3 semifinals series. However, after Stage 2, the Spitfire failed to make another stage playoffs, going 5–5 in Stage 3 and 4–6 in Stage 4. The team ended the season with a record, good for 5th place and a spot in the postseason.
London lost their first postseason matchup against the Los Angeles Gladiators on 11 July by a score of 0–3, but the team turned it around the next two games against the Gladiators, winning in 3–0 sweeps in matches two and three and advancing the team to the semifinals. London won both games against the Los Angeles Valiant in the semifinals, winning 3–0 in match one and 3–1 in match two. London claimed the first Overwatch League championship after defeating the Philadelphia Fusion on 27 and 28 July by scores of 3–1 and 3–0, respectively.