Retired footballer Samuel Eto’o has been declared as the biological father of a 22-year-old woman in Madrid.
The former striker has never acknowledged that he was the father of Erika Do Rosario Nieves and he did not attend the court proceedings in Madrid.
Court number 83 in Madrid reached the verdict on Thursday to conclude a legal process that was commenced by the woman’s mother in 2018.
The young woman’s mother Adileusa is said to have met Eto’o at a nightclub in Madrid in 1997 – when the Cameroonian was playing for Leganes, who were based near the Spanish capital.
Eto’o spent the 1997/98 season on loan at Leganes from Real Madrid – netting four goals in 30 appearances – before briefly breaking into the first-team squad of Los Blancos.
As a result of the relationship that developed, the lawsuit stated, as per Spanish press agency EFE, that the woman discovered that she had become pregnant.
The lawsuit added that Eto’o “told her that he would act responsibly with respect to the common child, although he preferred that she did not give birth to the child.”
The case continued: “during the pregnancy she tried to communicate with the future father (Eto’o), but he did not answer her phone calls or reply to her emails.”