Tactical approach and play style
Colombia, as well as many other countries on the continent, is inspired by Argentina, and the top-notch, creative player at number 10 is betting in India. 1980s superstar Carlos Valderrama was perfect for the role. El Pibe really set the tone for the great Colombian club in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was short pass and move football, and it was all about a charismatic playmaker.

Every child dreamed of becoming El Pibe, every club built their game around number 10 in the decades that followed. Excellent players like James Rodriguez and Juan Fernando Quintero may be considered the modern successors of the great Valderrama, but perhaps this obsession has limited the development of other aspects and stalled innovation. Colombia has an increasing number of tireless defenders and high-level midfielders. I suspect that this is a consequence of the fact that today's youth are more spoiled, run less and are more under the care of their elders. The playmakers are ultimately upscale but lazy.
Colombian defenders, like Brazilian ones, often hold deep defenses, with the scorers playing on the second floor. Too much difference is made between the "creative midfielders" and the "defensive midfielders", as if modern footballers do not have to fulfill both roles, and this is holding back the development of Colombian football. Whereas Brazilians play and attack in very different locations, Colombian football at its best comes down to accurate passing.
There are a number of reasons for what is happening on the pitch, all of which affect the results.
Street football is of great importance in both countries, but if for Brazilians it fosters individual ingenuity and magic, Colombians learn more about collective ball passing and domination. Brazilian street players like to throw the ball between the feet of opponents and get around them, while Colombians like to kick the ball into the net after fifteen accurate, creative, continuous passes.
In terms of game management, this is usually the weakest link in Colombian clubs. Colombian teams need to outnumber their opponents to win, and in reality this is holding them back. They are often easily provoked or distracted by more resourceful opponents from the south. A Colombian is more likely to be sent off for an unrestrained elbow blow than to infuriate an opponent with an insidious press of thorns on the Achilles tendon behind the referee's back. Colombians are also not the best divers and do not know how to play for time at all, and also easily lose their heads at the slightest provocation.
But despite the problems and not the best results of the continental clubs, Colombian football is once again showing its real strength. It looks like this time on a more stable and sustainable basis.
What is the structure of the Colombian Football League?
There are currently two professional leagues in Colombia. Officially, the second league is called the "Example B Category" or "Torneo Betpley Dimayor" for sponsorship reasons, and the top division is the "Example A Category" or "League Betpley Dimayor". Major leagues have an opening (aperture) and closing (clausura) season each year, with the top eight teams eliminating. The knockout format has changed more than once over the years, but now it is common to have two-legged semi-finals followed by a two-legged final.

Thus, there are two champions in the Colombian league every year. These clubs meet in the Colombian Super League final early next year, although winning the two-league competition is not as prestigious and important as the league when it comes to qualifying (slightly more important than the FA Super Cup, but with two games).

Every year, two teams are relegated to a minor league and promoted to a major. Colombia's elimination system is also unusual and largely designed to ensure that the big respected clubs do not leave their league. The rationale is this: A popular, wealthy club may have a bad season if it loses a lot of key players, but in the long run it almost certainly deserves a place in the big leagues. Therefore, elimination is calculated over three seasons in a separate “descenso” table.
The knockout system means teams can start the season knowing they cannot be eliminated, while others will know at the start of the season that they need to nearly become a champion to stay in the big leagues. Currently, the difference between the best and worst team in the elimination table is almost 100 points. When a new team enters the league, it takes on the knockout points of the other team in whose place it came. Thus, newcomers immediately become the first candidates for elimination. It is mathematically possible to take first place in the league and drop out of it in the same month. In a few cases, this almost happened.
In addition to the parallel dropout table, the total scores for the two seasons per year are also taken into account in the “reclasificación” table. It is less important, but it determines which clubs are bad They are put into international tournaments together with the champion and the winner of the cup.
Cup matches are played throughout the year, with the first half in group format and the second half in knockout format. Teams from the first two divisions start fighting for the cup in the group stage, and clubs participating in international competitions join in the knockout stage. Most teams are not very active in fighting for the cup right up to the elimination stage, and many use the cup only as an opportunity to give promising young players a chance to play. Of course, this is sometimes beneficial, but the results of cup matches can be unexpected and often the clubs in the second division are much more motivated. For footballers, this is a chance to advance or attract the attention of opponents.
Attendance at matches in Colombia can be very different and highly dependent on the success of the teams on the field. In 2016, Atletico Nacional was the best club on the continent, and fans had to queue for five to six hours to try to buy a ticket, or pay 20 times the official price. But later there were matches when fewer than 5,000 fans came to the Nacional stadium, designed for 45,000 seats. The short season and the knockout system allow the organizers to fuel interest in the matches, but this also exacerbates the problems somewhat. Clubs and their fans at a certain point understand that there will be no success in this season, and after that the results and attendance deteriorate even more.
If the team is at the bottom of the standings, but there is absolutely no threat of elimination, it will be a big disappointment, they can change the coach and plan new contracts, but at the same time it is unlikely that there will be a serious incentive to improve the results by the end of the season. Colombian teams have been making a name or success for themselves for decades, and if they find themselves at the bottom of the standings, it is not as shameful and dangerous as in Europe.