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Only 14 Western Sydney Wanderers fans will travel to Saudi Arabia to support their team in their historic second leg of the Asian Champions League final.
And of that mini-travelling party, only one female from the A-League’s most passionately supported club will be in attendance.
The Wanderers were hoping for a contingent of around 200 of their supporters to spur them on against Al-Hilal at King Fahd Stadium in Riyadh on Sunday morning (AEDT).
However, a club spokesperson said a strict and complex process for obtaining Saudi Arabia visas, along with the travel cost, had reduced the touring party leaving from Sydney to 13 men and one woman.
Under conservative Saudi law, single women must be in the company of their husband or a male family member to be able to obtain a visa, and a Western Sydney spokesperson confirmed the solitary female Wanderers supporter will make the journey with her father.
Another challenge facing supporters, members of the media and Wanderers management, has been the Saudi stipulation that people of the Jewish faith, and even people with Israeli stamps on their passport, are not allowed entry to the country.
Western Sydney declined to comment on whether their chairman Paul Lederer, who is Jewish, will travel to Riyadh.
Fairfax media reported earlier this month that the Asian Football Confederation may look to arrange a way for Lederer to attend under conditions usually reserved for diplomats.
Asian Champions League regulations say that: “Hosting club and its National Association must guarantee and ensure that access to the stadium will be granted to the AFC delegation, officials and players of the visiting club, sponsors, travelling fans and media without any discrimination of gender, race or nationality.”
Amid the excitement of the Wanderers being on the verge of becoming the first Australian football team to win an Asian Cup, the visa issue in Saudi Arabia is a disappointing undercurrent to the story.
At Parramatta Stadium for the first leg of the final, the “Blue Wave” of Al-Hilal fans filled up the entire southern end of the ground, behind the goals.
However in the 65,000-capacity cauldron of King Fahd Stadium, the Wanderers fans will be barely a drop in the ocean as they watch their team attempt to press home their 1-0 advantage.
Veteran goalkeeper Ante Covic explained on Monday how important the Wanderers supporters were to the team’s success.
“They’re a big part of this club right now,” he said. “When you come to a club like this and you look out at the stands … it lifts us on the field.”
When the Wanderers began organising travel packages a month ago, there were initial concerns that female supporters may be segregated in a separate part of the ground.
However, the one female Wanderers fan will be allowed to sit with the 13 other Western Sydney supporters.
It was only last year, Saudi Arabian law permitted women to attend football matches.
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