Samuel Eto’o, a former Barcelona forward is potentially facing legal consequences for allegedly refusing to provide his daughter – Erika de Rosario Nieves – with a monthly allowance of €1,400 for the past five years.
Eto’o, who currently serves as the president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), was legally recognised as the biological father of Nieves (now 24 years old) by a Madrid court last February.
The court ruling had mandated Eto’o to pay a monthly child support allowance, but he has reportedly failed to fulfil this obligation for the past half-decade, Sportskeeda reports.
As a result, the outstanding amount owed to his daughter has accumulated to nearly €90,000, as confirmed by Nieves’ lawyer, Fernando Osuna.
The lawyer even suggested the Cameroonian’s alleged failure to pay child support could constitute an ‘abuse of power’, while not complying with a court order may even result in jail time for Eto’o if the court deems it necessary.
Nieves’ mother’s lawsuit against Eto’o
The lawsuit is also said to have revealed that Eto’o told Nieves’ mother, Adileusa, that he would ‘act responsibly with respect to the common child’ despite his preference that she ‘did not give birth’.
However, according to a report by the Sun, the retired Cameroonian striker allegedly began avoiding the woman’s attempts to discuss their child’s upbringing and also cut off all communication.
In 1999, Adileusa gave birth to Nieves at the Alarcon Foundation Hospital in Madrid, with the circumstances of their relationship and the birth of their child forming a key part of the legal proceedings.
Eto’o declared father of Erika
In a related publication, Sports Brief reported that FECAFOOT President, Eto’o was declared the biological father of a 24-year-old woman by a court in Madrid.
Erika Do Rosario Nieves was declared the daughter of the footballer after court proceedings from which the Cameroonian was conspicuously absent.
The final verdict was reached on February 17, marking the culmination of a legal process initiated back in 2018 and which reached its shocking conclusion.
