El arte del dribbling: aprendizajes del fútbol base brasileño para Colombia.

Abstract

Contemporary soccer, marked by compact defensive structures and increasing game tempo, places dribbling at the core of attacking play as a key action to unbalance rivals, express creativity and differentiate performance levels in youth players. The purpose of this study was to describe the factors that foster dribbling and creativity in Brazilian youth soccer and to identify lessons that can be transferred to the Colombian context. A qualitative, interpretative narrative review of 15 articles published between 2015 and 2025 and indexed in Scopus, SciELO and Google Scholar was conducted, focusing on youth soccer, creativity, dribbling and football culture in Brazil and Colombia. The articles underwent critical reading and thematic content analysis using categories such as creativity, dribbling, futsal, street football, coaching methodology and cultural context. Results show a predominance of research on small-sided games and constraint manipulation, as well as evidence of Brazilian developmental pathways characterised by early specialised diversification, with extensive exposure to futsal and free play that enhances decision making and creative dribbling. In contrast, Colombian youth programmes are largely based on analytical methods and directive coaching styles, with limited futsal integration and fewer informal play spaces. The study concludes that the Brazilian model provides robust conceptual and methodological benchmarks to reorient Colombian player development towards more representative, creativity-oriented and decision-making-centred pedagogies, thereby contributing to the field of sport sciences and football pedagogy.