Liverpool Football Club is to start offering free wi-fi to home fans at Anfield Stadium.

The wi-fi, which will use wireless arrays from Xirrus, is deploying initially to the 12,000-seat Centenary Stand and adjoining corporate facilities, in time for this weekends games against West Ham.

Users will have to register with their email address to use the service, and will then be prompted to share their likes and dislikes.

Its an interesting application of the technology, and Liverpool is one of the first football clubs in Europe to roll out wi-fi connectivity in its stadium. As well as solving the problems caused by tens of thousands of fans all trying to access mobile data at the same time, it promises a new way for the club to collect insights on its fans.

“A massive driver for this new network is that we can gain more insight into our fans than ever before,” said Andrew Robinson, head of digital media and technology at Liverpool Football Club. “The technology will allow us to find out what devices fans like to connect with the Club on so we can invest in digital platforms accordingly. We will also find out more about how fans use the stadium and its facilities so we can adapt these to better serve them.

“The experience that weve created from day one is something we think fans will get very excited about. Well be providing in-match stats, food and drink offers, access to online retail, in-play betting in partnership with Paddy Power and also the ability to engage with a global audience outside of the stadium through social media platforms.”