KSI's Game-Changing Influence: How He Revamped Dagenham & Redbridge in the New Era of Influencer Football

WE’RE nearly half a year into KSI’s tenure as a non-league football club owner, and it couldn’t have gone better.

Back in March, in National League South’s Dagenham & Redbridge, alongside the Happy Fan Group and former QPR owner Tony Fernandes.

His plans for the club were clear. He declared: “I’m gonna take it to the moon”. And he wasn’t joking.

Since the vlogger , worth an estimated £80million, entered the boardroom at Victoria Road the Daggers have had attendance boosts, as well as commercial growth off the pitch.

While on the pitch, they’re sitting proud at the top of the National League South.

It’s fair to say that has transformed Dagenham & Redbridge with his lofty ambitions.

And, he has spearheaded the influencers’ takeover of football.

He manifested it

played a huge role in KSI, 33, getting where he is today.

His YouTube series, Race to Division One, where he started in Division 10 in the videos games’ competitive online mode and tried to get a team to the top flight, mirrors his real life now.

It put him on the social media stratosphere, and on the way to an extraordinary number of followers.

Across his , Instagram, and TikTok accounts he has well over 50 million now.

It’s a huge reach that’s benefitted .

To give you some context. Just days before KSI announced his involvement with Dagenham, only 1,247 people watched their home defeat to AFC Totton.

Fast-forward a few days and 2,281 fans watched a 1-0 win against Dorking.

Better still, KSI live-streamed himself taking in the game, walking around the stadium, and meeting the fanbase.

In one clip he was sat next to co-investor and player/assistant manager, .

Astonishingly, the video got more than 300,000 views. When you think the most a non-league club can dream of attendance-wise is around 10,000 bums on seats, it’s a wild scenario to imagine that much interest.

For his next trick, KSI followed in going down the documentary route.

Instead of appearing on a streaming platform like Disney, though, he kept the production in-house.

The first episode of Race To The Top: The Dagenham & Redbridge Story, released back in June, has been viewed an astonishing 800,000 times.

Again, more eyes are watching this success story unfold in real-time.

How does that boost the coffers?

In terms of revenue, the club have kept mum on their financial figures.

A fake story that they sold over 3.7 million replica shirts last season was quickly rebuffed.

However, thanks to, commercial and broadcast partnerships have been secured.

to broadcast select fixtures, as well as produce creator-led storytelling – starring the main man himself.

Sponsors Formation Games, Gemini Sports, West and Coe, Brunel Shipping, and Wolf Competitions are onboard, as the club coffers start to swell.

Fashion studio Acid FC were also drafted in to create a special-edition collaborative away kit, designed to bring in fans who just love collecting football shirts.

This summer the club recorded a huge overhaul of their squad, with a whole team of new signings.

Coached by Lee Allinson, who joined in early May, Dagenham have won their first four matches and are looking an early bet for promotion.

A new trend in football

KSI’s involvement with Dagenham has now kickstarted the influencer-led football revolution.

Intriguingly, the East London side kicked off their league campaign this season against another team owned by a man who made his money through a major global influencer marketing company.

Harry Hugo co-founded The Goat Agency, turning it into a major international enterprise, before selling it to WPP for a reported nine-figure sum in 2023.

Soon after, he visited a garage with his friends – with his eyes on a 458 Spyder in Black.

Instead, he bought Farnham Town.

He told Sky Sports: “My mate asked me why I was considering buying it.

“My only answer was that it would be fun. That wasn’t a good enough answer, so I challenged my mates to come up with something that would provide as much fun for the money.

“The first suggestion was, why don’t we buy a football club – and I thought that was quite a good idea!”

Up north, have also welcomed YouTubers onto their board.

The five-man group Dude Perfect became minority owners in 2023.

Their partnership includes front-of-shirt sponsorships for junior and academy kits, brand-building collaborations, and naming rights for the annual youth cup.

In return, Dude Perfect’s posse , Tyler Toney, Garrett Hilbert, Cody Jones, and brothers Coby and Cory Cotton hope to sell the Clarets to a worldwide fanbase, starting with their 60 million plus subscribers.

Forget Hollywood stars, it’s the influencers who are now taking over the game.