In this article, I explore the relationship between the gendered nature of sport in Colombia and girls and young women’s social in and exclusion in football (soccer). To do this, I conducted 6 months of research which included interviews and observations with a Colombian Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) organisation. In this manuscript, I analyse the complex and connected gendered social processes and mechanisms that constrain girls and young women’s participation. Research reveals the existence and reproduction of social processes that can be traced to colonialism. These processes perpetuate and reinforce girls and women’s positioning as peripheral actors in sport. The findings demonstrate how female SDP participants in Colombia are required to negotiate spaces with contradictory gendered meanings and confirm that social transformation within masculine structures is difficult to achieve. This research encourages SDP researchers to further engage with decolonial theory.
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