WITH the new Mainland Premier League season almost upon us, Young Africans (Yanga) just recently signed a monumental deal with a Dutch Rotterdam-based technology firm, Blackbird, in which the Dutch company will provide vital data on the team’s players, which will reveal areas of the players’ displays that require improvement.

Indeed, this huge first for domestic football is also likely to be a game-changing development for the local football scene and it also shows that Young Africans have set their sights on securing valuable pieces of silverware on not just the home front but in the ding-dong fiercely competitive continental football arena as well.

With the kick-off to the new season almost nigh, it is still too soon to tell if Young Africans’ groundbreaking deal will further strengthen their supremacy in local football this coming season and in the seasons to come.

Nevertheless, it is crystal clear that the Jangwani Street-based football side has clearly thrown down the gauntlet to their chief rivals Simba SC, which now sets up a potentially, greatly dramatic football season in store for our viewing and listening pleasure.

Let us switch our focus now to the high pressure, ceaselessly enthralling realm of the NBA.

With the new 2025-26 NBA season set to tip off on the 21st of October, it is striking that just the mere thought of watching a who’s who of the sport’s greatest basketball superstars like the African-Americans Lebron James and Stephen Curry turning on the style has doubtlessly upped our anticipation for the league’s upcoming, new season.

Indeed, from the standpoint of the Los Angeles Lakers’ evergreen veteran James, the upcoming 2025-26 NBA season will have an added significance as the all-time basketball great recently announced that the new season will be his final campaign in the NBA.

Unquestionably, this season will be a bitter-sweet one for James’ legions of fans not just in his native America but across the vast span of the world itself.

Beyond the enormous focus on Lebron ‘King’ James in the new season, there will absolutely be other basketball icons who will indisputably command our attention in the star-studded NBA league.

One glittering star who will be expected to pick up from where he left off last season will be the reigning NBA’s regular season’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who memorably led his team, Oklahoma City Thunder (OKC) to claim their first NBA trophy since the team moved to Oklahoma.

Indeed, the black Canadian point-guard, aka SGA, was in impressively stellar form throughout last season as he produced remarkable displays on a consistent basis.

It should be noted here that SGA’s heroics also continued in the NBA Playoffs last season, where he played a pivotal role in his team’s eventual triumph as NBA Champions.

In addition to the aforementioned basketball luminaries, other stars like the African-Americans Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant will be eagerly watched to see whether they can continue producing vintage displays despite both stars being in the twilight of their respective illustrious basketball careers.

Thus, as the countdown to the new NBA season gathers pace, let us hope that the sport’s leading lights will serve up yet another terrific season that will inspire youngsters on the African continent.