UK and European esports fans have been awaiting the announcement of the name of the London-based Overwatch League team.

The Cloud9-owned franchise will be called the London Spitfire.

A number of names were in the mix to be chosen, but Spitfire ended up being the pick as the most memorable and iconic.

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London Spitfire will play in blue and orange, much like British Overwatch character Tracer

The Overwatch League is starting on January 10, 2018, but the preseason begins in December

Cloud9's president Dan Fiden told the Mail Online exactly how the decision came about.

'Both the marketing folks from the Overwatch League and some key members like Jeff [Kaplan] from the Overwatch development team did some brainstorming on their own,' said Fiden.

'They came up with a list of their favourite names, and independently the Cloud9 team was doing the same thing.

The Overwatch League teams so far Seoul Dynasty Boston Uprising San Francisco Shock Los Angeles Valiant Shanghai Dragons Dallas Fuel New York Excelsior London Spitfire To be revealed: Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, Los Angeles Advertisement

'We came together with the Overwatch team, and by happy accident, London Spitfire was at the top of both lists.'

Cloud9 also ran an informal online contest where they asked people to submit their own names for the team.

'Once again, Spitfire was at the top of the list of submissions,' said Fiden. 'Then we ran a vote, and it won the vote. So we were confident it was a great name.'

The way the Cloud9 team themselves came up with the name is actually quite a personal one.

One of the team members brought up the idea of Spitfire.

'It turns out his grandfather actually flew spitfires in World War II... He told us this amazing story, and his grandfather is something of a war hero.

'The spitfire represents so much about the UK and London... this dedicated, scrappiness which resulted in the pilots performing so well in the Battle of Britain.'

Hearing some of the team names which weren't selected gives you much more of an appreciation about how difficult it is to choose something evocative.

'There were a number of names that came up which we thought were cliched... Things like the London Knights, the Lords, the Lions. We all felt they weren't very memorable.'

Some other names which tried to incorporate Cloud9 included the London Fog, the London Tempest, and things which were weather related.

The Cloud9 roster, which is yet to be officially announced, is probably glad they won't be wearing dull, grey uniforms to their upcoming matches.

London Spitfire's logo has a simple design based on badges of Premier League football teams

The team's logo is in the form of a badge, which Fiden says mimics the style of a lot of Premier League football clubs.

It's a simple, yet evocative blue and orange design, with the word 'London' across the top and a front-on silhouette of a spitfire below.

'The first thing we wanted to do in the logo was represent the Cloud9 blue,' and again, by a kind of happy accident, the Overwatch team was already on board.

Lena 'Tracer' Oxton is a very popular character from the game, she's British, and a former RAF pilot. She also happens to wear a somewhat blue outfit.

'To our amazement, they came back and said "that exact Cloud9 shade of blue happens to be one of the bases for her colour palette." So they said "why don't you use her other orange colour too?" And we're really excited about it.'

Cloud9 is a North American organisation though, so why London?

'My perspective is... why wouldn't everyone want London?' Said Fiden. 'We were absolutely thrilled to even entertain London as the home of the franchise.

'Cloud9 is generally thought of as North American, but part of that is because that's where our League of Legends team has been. But in terms of viewership and reach, 30-35% of our fanbase is in Europe.'

To confirm their claims of being fully dedicated to London, Cloud9 will be building an esports facility to be the home of their Overwatch esports team.

It will act as their home venue when the Overwatch League eventually branches out into global competition after hosting all of the games in Los Angeles for the first season.

However, Fiden says it will be a lot more than just somewhere for their Overwatch team to play.

'We're in the process of talking to owners of property and venues, and talking to potential partners about building an esports facility in London,' said Fiden.

'It'll be first and foremost housing and training facilities for our players and coaching staff. It'll have practice rooms designed for esports, rooms designed for VOD reviews for our teams and coaches. Then we'll have gyms and cafeterias.'

Currently a lot of teams live in team houses, where everyone lives together, eats together, and trains together on a daily basis. Dan Fiden believes this is becoming old fashioned.

The plan for the Cloud9 London facility is more in line with a football club's training facility.

Cloud9 is a predominantly North American esports organisation, but their reach spreads far

Overwatch is now an incredibly popular game played by millions of people around the world

It'll also have a fan oriented component to the venue, something which Fiden believes is missing from esports.

There will be a dedicated venue for fans to come and watch the games, but there will also be a more social component.

'Imagine a mix of a PC Bang, a sports bar, somewhere you can go to get recommendations and buy high end gaming equipment.'

Fiden says it's the equivalent of the local football pitch for young sports fans. People will be able to go to this Cloud9 facility to get that personal aspect which is often absent when playing games online.

'It's the kind of place you can go 365 days a year to hang out, order food, watch a game, or play some games.'

The Overwatch League begins on January 10, 2018.