Former Barcelona footballer and current president of the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) Samuel Eto’o, could potentially face legal consequences for allegedly neglecting to provide his daughter, Erika de Rosario Nieves, with a monthly allowance of €1,400 for the past five years.
Last February, a Madrid court officially recognized Eto’o as Nieves’ biological father and ordered him to pay a monthly child support allowance.
However, it has been reported that Eto’o has not fulfilled this obligation over the past five years, resulting in an accumulated debt of nearly €90,000.
Nieves’ lawyer, Fernando Osuna, has confirmed the outstanding amount owed.
Osuna said, per El Diario de Sevilla and quoted by Daily Post: “He owes more than five years of pension to his daughter and continues to defy justice. Erika’s economy is fragile, while Eto’o lives in luxury.”
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 the details of the case, 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.