The London Spitfire roster is finally getting some backup. After months of relative silence, the Overwatch League team announced today that flex support Riku “Ripa” Toivanen will be joining the 2021 roster. He’s the first of multiple anticipated promotions from the Spitfire’s Overwatch Contenders academy team, British Hurricane.
Over the past year, Ripa has been a clutch member of the British Hurricane, helping the team remain at the top of the leaderboards in Contenders Europe. Ripa previously played for the Los Angeles Gladiators during the 2019 Overwatch League season but was relegated to the bench for most of his time on the team.
During the 2020 offseason, London’s management decided that a full rebuild was in order for the struggling team. After dropping most of the previous roster and adding Ysabel “Noukky” Müeller as general manager, the team confirmed that it was headed in an all-Western direction for the 2021 season.
Noukky and the Spitfire staff hinted heavily at multiple player promotions from the British Hurricane considering the team’s wildly successful run in Overwatch Contenders. The British Hurricane didn’t lose a season or tournament in the European region for over a year, but an upset by Obey Alliance toppled them in November 2020.
Last month, the London Spitfire announced its first addition to the 2021 roster in the form of Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang. More player announcements are expected from the Spitfire throughout this week.
Update Jan. 4 3:15pm CT: The London Spitfire has also released main support Kim “Fuze” Tae-hoon from its roster.
