Free access to fast internet connection and mobile apps to all fans, up to 31,000. This is the outcome of Legia Warszawa’s latest deal with Ericsson. Poland’s first club to have a connected stadium follows current trend.

Legia Warszawa and Ericsson announced a 6-year sponsorship deal. Instead of pumping money directly into the club, Ericsson will provide high speed (1 Gbit/s) connection to all fans and operate the system for as long the contract lasts.

“Thousands of people go to the stadium to watch Legia in action and the club wants it to stay that way. Thanks to capacity Wi-Fi network we’ll enable fans to share photos, tweets, posts and emails. At the same time we’ll introduce additional services available by mobile apps”, said Oliver Kanzi, Ericsson CEO.

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The company will supply Stadion Wojska Polskiego with its Small Cell as a Service system, described by Ericson as an efficient and cost-effective network for high-capacity places like stadiums, airports or office towers.

Legia will celebrate its centenary next year and introduction of the system is expected to boost its potential on the domestic market.  Current champions are the first team in Poland to introduce this kind of measures and come months after high capacity Wi-Fi systems were announced/introduced by the likes of Wembley, Signal Iduna Park or Allianz Arena.

Current situation at the stadium makes it hard to even make a phone call with high attendances, but it’s not a unanimously supported innovation for Legia fans. Judging by online comments, many are afraid this will negatively influence matchday atmosphere, disrupting people from loud support. Similar reasons were the cause of similar attempt at PSV Eindhoven.