SINGAPORE – They waited patiently – some for more than three hours – standing along the barriers erected by the Ritz Carlton and JW Marriott South Beach hotels, all just to cheer on their footballing heroes from Chelsea and Bayern Munich, who arrived in Singapore for the International Champions Cup (ICC) on Sunday (July 23).

The English champions were the first team to arrive for the ICC, which will be played this coming week at the National Stadium, when they landed at Changi Airport’s private terminal on Sunday at around 7am.

They were then whisked away to the Ritz Carlton hotel, where they were greeted by around 50 fans at the entrance, most of whom had waited for at least 45 minutes.

As the team bus, emblazoned with Chelsea insignia, rumbled to a stop at 8a.m., the fans went into a mini frenzy and a couple even belted out chants. 

Manager Antonio Conte was the sixth person to step out of the bus and the charismatic Italian, decked in a blue tracksuit, gave a big smile and wave to the fans.

His players followed after that but stopping to sign autographs was a bridge too far for any of them, though Cesc Fabregas and Thibaut Courtois did wave, while David Luiz brandished a thumbs-up. Other stars like Willian, Marcos Alonso and N’Golo Kante were more focused on getting into the lobby, while hardly anybody appeared to recognise the lesser names like Jake Clarke-Salter, Lewis Baker and Kyle Scott.

One of the fans, who gave his name as Jonathan Long, was dismayed at the barriers set up by the hotel staff. The roped barriers were initially placed right alongside the red carpet leading to the entrance, but was subsequently shifted back by about 10 metres as the number of fans swelled.

“I am very disappointed that the hotel set up too many barriers, preventing the players from approaching us,” the 20-year-old told TODAY.

Some of the players, like Cahill and Luiz, looked like they wanted to do so, but were probably deterred by that.”

However, some were just happy to see the Chelsea players in the flesh.

“I was elated to see the Chelsea players walk right past me,” said Amanpreet Singh, who had been the first to arrive at around 6.20a.m. 

“Most of them were nice enough to wave and smile, despite playing a match less than 10 hours ago." 

Conte however, returned to the hotel entrance at about 4pm to mingle with the waiting fans as he obligingly signed autographs and took pictures with them.

Much to the delight of the fans, several other players such as Marcos Alonso, Willian, David Luiz and Cesc Fabregas also did the same as they made their way out of the hotel for training at around 5pm.

But Chelsea fans were not the only ones rewarded for their patience.

After close to a two-hour delay, 27-time Bundesliga champions Bayern became the second ICC team to touch down in the country at around 6pm.

Like Chelsea, the Bayern team also arrived at their hotel – the JW Marriott South Beach Hotel – in their customised team bus an hour later.

More than 80 fans, including those from Bayern’s Singapore fan club, greeted them with cheers as they waved club memorabilia like jerseys, scarves and even customised Bayern-themed placards.

In return, the Bayern stars such as defender Mats Hummels, strikers Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller, winger Franck Ribery and midfielder Javi Martinez gamely walked along the erected barrier to thank their fans by signing autographs and posing for photographs.

Their accommodating gestures were well-appreciated by the fans. Said student Jonathan Chun, 16, who managed to get nine signatures: “I’m ecstatic that I’ve managed to get so many of their autographs, especially as we’ve been waiting for them here for so long.

“It really is very nice of them to be so obliging given that they’ve just touched down and must be tired. But I’ve seen how they treat their fans via their social media pages, so I wasn’t surprised that they were so accommodating.”

Inter Milan, the third team in the tournament, will arrive on Wednesday (July 26)

Chelsea play Bayern in the ICC opener on Tuesday (July 25).

*Visit http://www.internationalchampionscup.com/territories/sg for more information.