Mugharbel spoke with touring Italian reporters in Riyadh for the Supercoppa Italiana.
You can see the passion for football, but the stadiums are often not full. Why?
"We are developing the league and studying how to improve every single aspect of the championship. We are on a journey, there are many challenges to overcome. We are working on different aspects, including the pricing policy: we are working with the different clubs to improve our movement. We are very proud of our moment, we have achieved the goal of hosting the 2034 World Cup, it is the demonstration of the visibility we are obtaining in football. If we look at the last 10 years, there has been a great acceleration in the development of our football."
The average cost?
"I wouldn't mention one in particular: we structured ourselves by looking at different experiences around the world. We have excellent relationships with different leagues in the world, which have allowed us to take the best from each. But we are also exporting our experience to the rest of the world: it's a journey and it's important to share our knowledge with the rest of the world. The idea is not to copy the Italian or English championship."
"I really can't answer on the subject, it is an aspect of the federation's competence and not the league's."
What impact has Cristiano Ronaldo had on Saudi football?
"It's no secret, having him in our league is historic. The Saudi League was already very popular, because our country is passionate about football: the arrival of CR7 allowed us to attract many other champions. But he also improved the league: it has become much more competitive in the last 2-3 years."
Can a championship in which four teams own the stadium be truly competitive?
"We have to look at what is happening in our championship: the richest team doesn't always win, that's the beauty of football."
Al-Nassr hasn't won the championship yet. Is that surprising?
"It's football, that's the only thing I can explain. Football is like that, think about what Atalanta did in Europe."
Is soccer the most popular sport in Saudi Arabia?
"It is the most followed sport by far."
Will the strategy remain to continue to buy great champions or will we focus more on the youth sectors?
"The youth teams are an important part of our project, one of our objectives is also to attract more and more young players. We also have rules in this regard and we have managed to reduce the average age of our teams, we have increased two slots for foreign players as long as they are under-22."
Money has always been important to attract new players, at a certain point will the technical aspect become more important?
"It is certainly a journey that we are taking and we want to improve. Today we are already at that point, this season we managed to bring sixteen under-22 players and we are already at a good point in our journey. Obviously there is a series of slots set, for new ones to arrive there is also a need for a physiological turnover."