Erika Do Rosario Nieves, now 22, was identified last February as the legal daughter of former football star Samuel Eto’o. She has filed a criminal complaint against him over alleged failure to pay more than 72,000 euros in child support. If the complaint succeeds, a jail term could be a consequence of the non-payment.
The complaint, according to Erika’s attorney, Sevilla-based Fernando Osuna, follows attempts to obtain two years of back child support through the courts after multiple failed efforts to reach Eto’o. Erika has asserted that Eto’o has not contributed to her upbringing and that she has faced financial hardship while her father is reported to be living in comfort.
According to Osuna, Eto’o appeared in absentia while the 83rd Madrid-based Congress addressed the matter of paternity. The court reportedly did not accept some of the evidence presented against Eto’o, which has kept the legal process in motion as the matter proceeds.
Erika began pursuing a paternity recognition in 2018. The aim was to establish a legal link to Eto’o, who had learned of Erika’s existence after meeting her mother, Adileusa, at a Madrid nightclub in 1997. At the time, Eto’o was associated with CD Leganés, and the encounter occurred through a social circle rather than a formal arrangement.
The alimony dispute has persisted since the case opened in 2018, with a court visit occurring in 2020. Erika’s current claim centers on the support she says she has not received over recent years and the financial strain that has affected her upbringing since infancy.
Erika’s mother informed the actress in February 1998 that she was pregnant. Erika’s account states that Eto’o promised to take responsibility for the child while also expressing a preference not to have one. Erika argues that contact was attempted repeatedly during pregnancy, but phone calls and emails went unanswered, and the unborn child’s arrival occurred without a clear commitment from Eto’o.
Erika was born in 1999 at the Alarcón Foundation hospital in Madrid, a period when Eto’o was noted to be playing for RCD Espanyol. For years, Erika says she did not know her father. In an effort to move the process forward, Erika provided biological evidence to support her claim, and while the court had not previously accepted certain aspects of the case, the judge allowed the assertion of paternity to proceed as the matter advanced.