The reporters and TV crews who had convened in the hotel lobby were more interested in another new arrival: a 57-year-old, short, paunchy Argentine man with graying stubble and a pronounced limp who had taken up residence in a seventh-floor suite and had hardly been seen for a week.

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Diego Armando Maradona, an icon of world soccer, had come to Culiacan, the spiritual home of the Mexican drug trade, to coach Dorados, a second-division professional team that was in 13th place out of 15 teams at the start of week and had no wins in its first six matches.

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So much has happened in Maradona’s long post-playing career — drug addictions, weight gains and losses, friendships with leftist dictators, money troubles, an incident involving his middle fingers at the World Cup this summer in Russia — as to almost exhaust the world supply of tabloid ink. And yet, the arrival of Maradona to this obscure team, in this violent place, has still managed to be surprising.

“He’s one of the best players of all time, up there with Pelé,” said Fausto Castaños, who has covered sports in Culiacan for four decades. “And he’s in Culiacan? In the second division?”

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To outsiders, Culiacan has long been a one-celebrity town. It’s the capital of the Pacific state of Sinaloa, the heartland of Mexico’s opium and marijuana industry, and the home of drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán’s Sinaloa cartel. Guzmán is in federal prison in New York, awaiting trial on organized-crime charges, but the fighting among his successors has driven up the death toll here and across the country.

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Mexico last year had more homicides than at any other time in its recent history, and the pain of that violence has, in an indirect way, informed the local reaction to Maradona’s arrival. Hundreds of fans mobbed Maradona when he arrived at the Culiacan airport this month, and crowds streamed into the stadium wearing his No. 10 jersey for his first game on Monday night, but many are also frustrated about the celebration of a man who has even a glancing connection to narcotics.

“The people here say, ‘We don’t want Maradona,’ ” said Cristian Barcelo, 22, a reporter for Radio Sinaloa who sat in the press box during Monday’s match. “It’s the drugs!”

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The man who brought Maradona here is Jorge Hank Rhon, the former mayor of Tijuana, a gambling tycoon who owns Dorados and Xoloitzcuintles, the border city’s professional soccer team. Hank has long faced rumors, never proved, of ties to organized crime. He was arrested on weapons charges, later dropped, after a 2011 raid found 88 guns in his house.

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His tastes were famously flamboyant — he kept camels and white Bengal tigers in a private zoo — and owned a dog-skin vest. Over the past three decades, he has been accused of laundering money and smuggling elephant tusks. He has denied having ties to organized crime.

Bringing Maradona to a failing provincial soccer team has been his latest brash move. The team has not revealed details of Maradona’s contract, but local news reports have estimated its value at $150,000 a month.

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“To get a Maradona isn’t cheap,” said Jared Borgetti, a former star of Mexico’s national team who once played for Dorados.

Maradona has a special connection to Mexico, the site of some of his greatest achievements as a player. He was captain of the Argentine team that won the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, and he scored two of the most famous goals in the history of the sport, one now known as the “Hand of God” goal after he punched it into the net, in the same game against England.

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“He brings with him these memories,” Borgetti said.

Maradona’s first week in town was not without controversy. He landed in Culiacan along with a manager, Christian Bragarnik, who once worked with another Mexican team owned by men wanted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Bragarnik has denied any connection to drug trafficking.

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Other stories emerged in the local news media about Maradona making lavish demands, such as wanting a house with a private beach and for the team to fly to away games on private jets. Team officials did not respond to requests for comment.

In Maradona’s first news conference in Sinaloa, he expressed remorse for his history of drug use and gratitude for the opportunity to coach in Culiacan. Taking drugs, he said, “was a step backward, and what soccer players have to do is go forward.”

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“I had a lot of mistakes in my life,” Maradona said. “I assume this responsibility like someone who holds a child in their arms.”

Even the official team program for Maradona’s first game was forced to reckon with his past. “Now, after many years and the pounding of life on his shoulders, Maradona has said that he finally wants to sleep peacefully, that he has left his addictions and illnesses behind, and that once and for all, he dedicates himself to work as God intended,” it read.

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When it was finally time for soccer on Monday night, Dorados fans seemed relieved. Maradona hobbled onto the field to a hearty ovation, then plopped down on the bench. After a listless first half against last-place Cafetaleros of Chiapas, Dorados caught fire, led by a hat trick from Vinicio Angulo, who wore Maradona’s old number, 10. Dorados got its first victory, 4-1, and Maradona bear-hugged Angulo and kissed him on the cheek.

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“He’s an eccentric, and with all his excesses, he’s not the best example we could have,” said Efrain Angulo, 54, an elementary school teacher who waited for a glimpse of Maradona after the game. “But as a sportsman, he’s respected. He’s one of the best there’s ever been.”

“And if he gets wins here,” he added, “all the better.”

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Maradona may have celebrated on Monday night, but the morning after his big win, he was sitting in Hotel Lucerna’s restaurant by 7:30 a.m.

On wall-mounted TV screens, CNN was showing a headline about more than 100 corpses that were discovered in a trailer in another Mexican city, after the local morgue ran out of space for all of the drug war’s dead.