Dagenham & Redbridge rarely gets more than 2,000 fans attending its home matches in English soccer's sixth tier.
On Saturday, there will be eyeballs from all around the world on the little-known team.
Three weeks after becoming a minority shareholder of the east London club, social media star KSI will begin his quest to get Dagenham some global recognition by streaming its match to his 17.6 million subscribers on YouTube.
Dagenham hosts Hampton & Richmond in National League South, and it will mark the first time a match at that level will be broadcast live on YouTube. The initiative has been backed by both the National League and broadcaster DAZN, which shows selected games from the English sixth tier.
“This Saturday is gonna be a movie! See you there,” KSI — whose real name is Olajide William Olatunji — wrote on X about the initiative that was announced on Wednesday and was described as a “landmark moment” by the National League chief executive Phil Alexander.
“Moments like this," said Pete Oliver, chief executive of growth markets at DAZN, "show what’s possible when football, creators, and modern distribution come together to reach entirely new audiences.”
When it was announced on March 3 that KSI — who has more than 13 million followers on Instagram — had bought a minority stake in Dagenham, he joined a growing list of celebrities to try their hand in soccer ownership in Britain.
The most renowned have been Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac, Hollywood actors who took over Wrexham in 2021 and have led the Welsh team from England's fifth tier to the second-tier Championship. Another is Snoop Dogg, an American rapper and entertainment icon who recently became an investor in Swansea, another second-tier team from Wales.
KSI's move into soccer is a bit different in that he is English — he was born in London — and is already a fan of the sport. He is 32, so is set to bring Dagenham into the consciousness of a younger audience.
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Saturday will be the first step.
“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," he said after becoming minority shareholder, adding that it was "100% doable” to get the team into the Premier League.
“It will take a long time — so to the Daggers fans, please be patient," said KSI, who has also tried out boxing and is a judge on popular TV show Britain’s Got Talent.
Last month, Dagenham also brought in former England international Andy Carroll as a player and minority shareholder. The former Liverpool striker was appointed interim manager last week after Lee Bradbury was fired.
Dagenham’s chief commercial officer, John Grabowski, thanked DAZN for its “creativity and ambition to partner with KSI and bring our match to a global audience.”
“It is a powerful statement of intent from DAZN and the National League," he said.
Dagenham dropped out of the Football League — which covers the three divisions below the lucrative Premier League — in 2016 and was relegated to National League South at the end of last season. It is 12th in the 24-team league.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
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