Spirit sign ESL Impact team

Spirit is the latest organization to join the top women's circuit following the likes of G2 and GUILD with the acquisition of MVP.

Spirit has announced the acquisition of an ESL Impact squad, following a trend that G2 Oya and GUILD jumped on before the start of the league's third season. Spirit now join in with the acquisition of MVP, who are currently playing in the European division's Group A.

This incursion into women's esports is Spirit's first, which they call "a double experiment" for the organization as they also make inroads for the first time with an English-speaking roster.

The team qualified for Impact League despite not having many weeks of practice prior to the qualifiers, and the goal now is for the team to keep attending ESL Impact League and its standalone tournaments with the aim of becoming one of the top teams in the female circuit.

The squad came together around in-game leader Lea "⁠xia⁠" Vagová, blending experience and youth in a quintet that made it to the third season of the leading women's league through the second European open qualifier alongside Aces.

Two of the players were previous teammates of xia's, Mirte "⁠Moraltis⁠" Horemans and Justina "⁠Tynka⁠" Ducká, whereas Svetlana "⁠suns1de⁠" Mevlid was brought on for her youth and potential alongside Dzhamilya "⁠Jammie⁠" Alagozova, a Kyrgyz player with a strong voice to help with calling and with experience in mixed sides.

Spirit fe have already played their two first ESL Impact matches this season, still under MVP, with losses at the hands of reigning champions Nigma Galaxy, 0-2, and against Astralis fe, 1-2. Their next match will be against BIG EQUIPA on March 23.

Date	Matches
ESL Impact League Season 3 Europe
23/03/2023	BIG EQUIPA 19:30 Spirit fe	Match

"We planned to enter the female circuit more than a year ago but it didn't happen back then," Spirit told HLTV. "We regret that we lost a lot of time and we didn't want to lose anymore, so several months ago we started monitoring prospective female teams, and ultimately decided to make a move for MVP.

"Female CS definitely has a lot of potential because of the tournament ecosystem, which didn't exist before. One of the key event in it is ESL Impact, and of course we wanted to be represented there."

The team will now be coached by Aleksey "⁠Nevar⁠" Voronov, the former Trasko, Enterprise and INVSN skipper, who said that he does not expect instant results. "Our first season is more like a trial run," he said. "We will work, get to know each other, and develop our best qualities."

Spirit fe is:

Lea "⁠xia⁠" Vagová
Justina "⁠Tynka⁠" Ducká
Mirte "⁠Moraltis⁠" Horemans
Svetlana "⁠suns1de⁠" Mevlid
Dzhamilya "⁠Jammie⁠" Alagozova

Aleksey "⁠Nevar⁠" Voronov (coach)