One of last year's biggest scene changes in global sport was centered in Saudi Arabia.

With a stealthy start during the winter, when Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo famously left English Manchester United for Saudi Al Nassr – one of the clubs owned by the state investment fund PIF.

During the summer, more big players followed - including Frenchman Karim Benzema from Real Madrid and Brazilian Neymar from Paris Saint Germain.

"We learn from the best"

And there will be more.

At least if the league's operational manager, who is to build the world's best football league, is to be believed.

- You have to have that goal in order to grow.

But if we reach it in the first seven years of our strategy, I doubt it.

But yes: We are driven by the best and we learn from the best in order to be the best, says the league's chief operating officer, Carlo Nohra, to SVT in the documentary "Saudi Arabia: Soccer's new Mecca".

"Everyone wants to come to Saudi Arabia"

One who is convinced that the league will be number one in the world is Mansour Al-Afaliq, chairman of the club Al Fateh, where the Swedish goalkeeper Jacob Rinne plays.

- What I hear on the transfer market now is that everyone wants to come to Saudi Arabia.

There is no one who hesitates about coming here, especially now that the country is opening up, he says.

"Joakim von Anka in cube"

And with the huge amount of money available in Saudi Arabia – for example, the state investment fund PIF has assets of over 700 billion dollars – it is far from impossible for the Saudis to create the best league in the world.

This is what PR and product market expert Niklas Turner Olovzon thinks.

- Seven trillion kroner, that's Joakim von Anka cubed, it can't be put into perspective.

But if the will to go there is there from the top players, you could build a league that is better than the ones we have in Europe.

Watch the documentary "Saudi Arabia - the new Mecca of football" on SVT Play.

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Here, the sports manager for the Saudi league leaves SVT's interview - but forgets to take off the microphone.

See more in the clip.

Photo: Kalle Segerbäck/SVT