For many club owners, a cup final and survival would be enough reason to exhale.

Ben Harburg is not taking that route.

After a wild first season at Al-Kholood, the American owner says the work will not slow down. In fact, he wants the small Saudi Pro League club from Ar Rass to move faster during the off-season than it did during the campaign.

That matters because Al-Kholood are no longer just a football story. They are also a test case for what a smaller Gulf club can become when money is not the only weapon.

Harburg made history last year when he became the first foreign owner of a Saudi Pro League club. He walked into a club that had little global attention, limited resources, and a huge survival fight ahead.

One season later, Al-Kholood stayed up. They also reached the King’s Cup final, a run that put the club’s name in conversations far beyond Ar Rass.

But Harburg is not presenting the year as a fairytale. His assessment is colder, and probably more useful.

He sees survival as the minimum target achieved. He sees the cup run as valuable, but also as something that may hide deeper weaknesses. The point total was not high. The squad needs work. The football operation still needs more structure.

That is the interesting part for Indian fans watching Saudi football from the outside. The Saudi Pro League has been sold globally through superstar signings and large transfer spending. Al-Kholood are trying to build attention another way.

They cannot outspend the biggest Saudi clubs. Harburg knows that clearly. He expects at least seven or eight clubs in the league next season to have spending power Al-Kholood cannot match.

So the club’s plan is built around recruitment, facilities, coaching, player care, content and community connection.

In plain English, Al-Kholood want to become the kind of club where a player feels he can improve, be seen, and work in a serious environment. For a smaller club, that can be as important as a bigger pay cheque.

Harburg says the team will change significantly before next season. Four or five foreign players could be replaced. Several Saudi players are also out of contract, which means local recruitment will be just as important.

That is a major reset, not a light touch. It also shows how hard survival can be for clubs outside the league’s richest group.

A Saudi Pro League squad is not only about buying a headline name. It needs balance between foreign talent, domestic players, fitness levels, tactical discipline, and depth across a long season.

Harburg has also pointed to the coaching structure. He wants more specialist support around the team. Fitness, recovery, nutrition and set pieces are all on the list.

Those details may sound ordinary, but they often decide seasons for smaller clubs. A side that cannot spend its way out of trouble needs to win margins elsewhere.

Better recovery can reduce injuries. Better nutrition can improve training output. Better set pieces can turn tight matches. Better fitness can protect points late in games.

This is where the modern Gulf football project is changing. The region is not only buying players. It is importing systems, habits and commercial thinking.

For Indian readers, there is a familiar parallel. In cricket, the richest teams do not only rely on big auction buys. They invest in analysts, trainers, physios, scouts, media teams and academies.

Football is moving the same way. Al-Kholood are trying to behave less like a small club waiting for luck, and more like a startup trying to scale.

Harburg has used that startup energy from the beginning. He has spoken openly about building the fan base, bringing the community closer, and making the club feel different.

That transparency has helped him build attention beyond Al-Kholood’s own supporters. In a league dominated by bigger names, personality matters.

The club also plans to keep producing content through the summer. That is not a side issue anymore. Sport now competes for attention every day, not only on match nights.

For a smaller club, content can make the difference between being ignored and being followed. It keeps fans emotionally close. It gives players visibility. It helps sponsors understand the club’s reach.

Harburg says Al-Kholood will produce material around the World Cup, the Saudi national team, and their own shows. The aim is simple. Stay in the conversation while football slows down.

This is especially relevant in the Gulf, where sport, tourism and entertainment now overlap heavily. A club’s brand can help sell a city, attract visitors, and create new business relationships.

Ar Rass is not Riyadh, Jeddah or Dubai. That makes Al-Kholood’s rise more interesting. If a club from a smaller city can attract national and international attention, it gives the wider Saudi football project more depth.

The King’s Cup final run gave Al-Kholood that first big burst of visibility. Cup runs do that in football. They make neutral fans care. They turn unknown players into names. They give sponsors a reason to look closer.

But a cup run can also distort reality. Harburg appears aware of that risk. He is not treating one good competition as proof that everything is solved.

Instead, he is talking about the less glamorous work. A new training centre is expected to be announced. The back office will grow. The club will add people in areas where it has been running lean.

That back-office point is important. Fans often see transfers and results. They do not always see ticketing, media, operations, recruitment databases, medical records, contracts, logistics and commercial planning.

A club that runs those badly eventually pays for it on the pitch.

Harburg says Al-Kholood spent the season operating with a lean team, partly to learn where the pressure points were. Now he wants to invest in the right places.

Recruitment may be the biggest test. He says players are now showing more interest in joining than they did at the start of the project.

That is understandable. Last year, Al-Kholood were selling a promise. Now they can sell proof.

They survived. They reached a major final. They grew their profile. They showed players that the club can provide attention, not just employment.

For Gulf football, this is the quieter battle behind the superstar era. The top clubs will keep chasing elite names. Smaller clubs must convince players that development, visibility and culture also matter.

If Al-Kholood get that right, they may become a useful model for the league. If they get it wrong, the cup run could become a beautiful one-season memory.

Harburg’s language suggests he understands the difference.

He is not celebrating like an owner who thinks the job is done. He sounds more like one who believes the first year only exposed how much more there is to build.

That should keep Al-Kholood interesting next season. Not because they are suddenly title challengers. That would be too much to claim.

They are interesting because they are trying to answer a harder question.

Can a small Saudi club compete with bigger forces through planning, identity and sharper recruitment?

The next few months will tell us whether Al-Kholood’s momentum is real, or just the afterglow of a dramatic cup run. Either way, Harburg has made one thing clear. The off-season in Ar Rass will not be quiet.