Cameroonian Football Federation President, Samuel Eto’o has been declared the biological father of a 22-year old woman by a court in Madrid.
Erika Do Rosario was declared the daughter of Eto’o after court proceedings which the Cameroonian was conspicuously absent from.
The verdict was arrived at on Thursday, February 17 as the legal process that was launched by a woman in 2018 came to an end.
A woman identified as Adileusa filed a lawsuit in 2018 alleging that Samuel Eto’o was the biological father of her daughter.
According to the Marca, quoted by The Mirror, the woman who commenced the legal process, identified as Adileusa, met Eto’o at a nightclub in Madrid in 1997.
At the time, Eto’o was on his way to football stardom and was a promising young talent on loan Leganes from Real Madrid. The retired striker spent the 1997/98 season at Leganes, which is near the Spanish capital of Madrid and netted four goals in 30 appearances.
From the short love affair with Adileusa, the lady discovered in February 1998 that she was pregnant. As per the lawsuit, Eto’o told the woman 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 continues to state that Eto’o allegedly ignored the woman’s phone calls when she tried to reach out to him on how they were going to raise the baby, and the striker is said to have broken off all communication. Adileusa eventually gave birth to Erika at the Alarcon Foundation hospital in Madrid in 1999.
By then, Eto’o was on another loan spell, this time at Espanyol in Catalonia. The former Barcelona striker is said to have not engaged the court at any time during proceedings and did not make a single court appearance. Following the closing of the case, the court has ruled that Eto’o must now pay the woman €1,400 per month, an amount that will be dated back to when the lawsuit was filed. Eto’o’s career in numbers As a player, Eto’o went on to have a successful football career as he established himself as one of the greatest African players of all time. His career started to take off at Real Mallorca, where he scored 70 goals before joining Barcelona.
After a successful five years with the Catalan giants, Eto’o managed 130 goals in 199 appearances, winning two Champions League in the process. He moved to Inter Milan where he won another Champions League, bagging 53 goals in two seasons with the Nerazzurri.
