From the mid-1980s until 2004 Diego Maradona was addicted to cocaine. He allegedly began using the drug in Barcelona in 1983. By the time he was playing for Napoli, he had a regular addiction which began to interfere with his ability to play football. For various reasons, Maradona is considered one of the sport's most controversial and newsworthty figures. He was suspended from football for 15 months in 1991 after failing in a doping test for cocaine in Italy, and he was sent home from the 1994 World Cup in the USA for testing positive for ephedrine.