Diego Maradona has always made for great TV. Through his dazzling plays and his emotional outbursts on the soccer field, it’s always been clear why he’s a legend in the sport: no one could make a match as much of an event as the Argentine player. Hot on the heels of a revealing documentary about him (HBO’s Diego Maradona), Netflix is capitalizing on the 59-year-old player turned coach with a new documentary series about him. As its title suggests, the reality show will follow Maradona en Sinaloa (or, as its less regional-sounding English trailer calls it: Maradona in Mexico). Known both abroad and in Mexico as a region rife with drug trafficking and drug cartels, Sinaloa is also home to the Dorados, a soccer team that, before Maradona came on board, was en route to coming dead last in their respective league.
Arguably sounding like an IRL Club de Cuervos-type of setup, Maradona in Sinaloa looks to give audiences a chance to see what an unguarded Maradona looks like in 2019. “I want to improve soccer for the good of the people,” he says earnestly at one point early in the trailer for the show. And indeed, his interactions with the young players he’s both mentoring and coaching show a tender side of the Diego we may all think we know. Though, it’s not long until his coaching pays off, the victories start coming in, and the cocky and angered side of Maradona makes a comeback (he even gets kicked off the field at one point). At the heart of the show is a simple question: can a world-renowned soccer superstar turn the team around and deliver unexpected victories? You’ll have to watch the docuseries to find out.
Maradona en Sinaloa (Maradona in Mexico) premieres November 13, 2019, on Netflix.