Social media star KSI became a minority shareholder of Dagenham & Redbridge three weeks ago, and this Saturday he will stream the club's match against Hampton & Richmond to his 17.6 million subscribers on YouTube. The match will be the first time a National League South match is broadcast live on YouTube, an initiative backed by the National League and broadcaster DAZN. The specific viewership or engagement goals for the YouTube stream have not been disclosed.
Dagenham & Redbridge, which plays in English soccer's sixth tier, rarely gets more than 2,000 fans attending its home matches. The club recently brought in former England international Andy Carroll as a player and minority shareholder. Carroll was appointed interim manager of Dagenham & Redbridge last week after Lee Bradbury was fired. The financial terms or investment amount involved in KSI's minority shareholding have not been revealed, nor has the exact percentage stake he owns.
This Saturday is gonna be a movie! See you there.
KSI, who is 32 years old, English, born in London, and a fan of soccer, has more than 13 million followers on Instagram. According to multiple reports, he is also a former boxer and a judge on Britain's Got Talent.
A documentary series titled 'Race To The Top' will follow KSI as he aims to take Dagenham & Redbridge to the Premier League. The series will be produced by KSI and After Party Studios, and it will debut on KSI's YouTube channel this summer, reaching his 17 million subscribers worldwide. The documentary will be dubbed into 14 languages globally. The exact premiere date for the documentary series this summer has not been announced.
I want you to know that I am fully committed to making sure Dagenham & Redbridge is a team that everyone will know worldwide and will be an exciting team to watch and support.
According to multiple reports, the documentary series will continue into the 26/27 football season. Ben Doyle, also known as RVBBERDUCK, is the director of 'Race To The Top' and founder of After Party Studios. Doyle previously produced KSI's documentary 'KSI: Can't Lose'. The long-term strategic plans KSI has for Dagenham & Redbridge beyond the documentary and streaming initiatives remain unclear.
It will take a long time — so to the Daggers fans, please be patient.
I’m so excited to start this journey. It’s gonna be a rollercoaster for sure but I hope to bring Dagenham and Redbridge back to the glory days.
This is a really big deal for me. For the fans who’ve been with me since Race to Division One, it’s a full-circle moment - from dreaming about football online to actually taking over a club.
When KSI called me on a rainy Sunday morning last November and said he was buying a football club, I knew I had to be there to capture it.