In recent years, Flamengo has invested increasingly in technology and training facilities. With Ninho do Urubu recognized as a world-class training center, the inauguration of the new training fields—closer to the professional training center—showed that innovations weren't limited to equipment and construction.

Since the beginning of the year, Flamengo's squad has been training on fields painted with dashed lines. The markings extend beyond the traditional boundaries of the field—the sidelines, baselines, penalty areas, and center circle. And there's a reason for this: a request from coach Zé Ricardo.

Young and studious, Zé took part in a coaching course offered by the CBF in December 2016, after the Brazilian Championship. There, he was introduced to the idea.

"We noticed some markings on the training fields at Granja Comary that were similar to the ones here, and through the professionals who were working there with the U-20 team, we questioned the need for and reason for those lines," he says. 

"They explained that, in addition to facilitating the games and training sessions we do on smaller fields, avoiding spending extra time marking with turtles or tapes, they are the centers of the field where most of the game's combinations take place," he says.

Zé Ricardo states that, from a tactical point of view, markings help in training.

"The class teacher explained that it visually facilitated the triangulations, the 'mini-societies' that we so encourage them to do. It helps with the athletes' spatial orientation. We asked the club's board to reproduce these lines, which they readily agreed to," he explains.

The result was measured in the squad's training sessions.

"We observed day by day that it really facilitated the mini-games and training sessions. We defined the areas where we wanted the triangulations to take place, and this also made things easier," he concludes.