At 40 years old and already retired from football, Samuel Eto'o continues to be a regular character in the Spanish press. Although he now lives in Qatar, his stages at Real Madrid, Mallorca, Espanyol or Barça made him a very popular character in the country, where he also enjoyed long periods of his personal life, so much so that he left here some of his eight children, among those he recognizes as his own and those he does not. Among the latter is Erika, whose lawyers want to finalize in a few weeks the judicial process in which they have been immersed for three years so that the ex-footballer accepts his paternity.
Erika is the daughter of Adileusa do Rosario, with whom Samuel Eto'o had a brief relationship in the late 1990s. The young woman, who is now 21 years old, has been trying since 2018 to prove that the former footballer is her father. But he constantly comes face to face with a wall that Eto'o himself has erected, since neither he nor his lawyers have ever appeared before the judge, as Erika's lawyers explain. Such is the point of abandonment of the case by the Cameroonian that, as it became known in 2019, the judge even declared him in absentia.
The efforts of Erika's legal team to have Eto'o formally considered her father are of such caliber that they now go further.
As it is impossible to find it, they have decided to skip what is usually the fundamental step in these cases: the DNA test.
Erika's legal team, led by the lawyer Fernando Osuna - common in this type of celebrity paternity claims - has asked the judge to resolve the case without Eto'o having to present the corresponding genetic sample, which had previously demanded.
Erika and Adileusa Do Rosario, in a court in Madrid, last July 2020. Getty Images
Osuna explains that the athlete has been asked up to three times to appear in Madrid for a DNA test, "but he shows no signs of life, he has not made any manifestation throughout the process," the lawyer laments. “I wanted the DNA test done, because as these are very famous people, it is 100% proven. Also because justice in these cases is always cautious with the plaintiff and protective of the defendant. But we have already asked the judge to hand down the sentence, ”he says.
“Erika bears a great resemblance to him. His mother made a very credible statement. We took a witness who said she knew about the pregnancy, who said that Eto'o had been with Adileusa for several months. There is also rebellion, ”Osuna lists. And there is also one more question that suggests that the judge has confidence in the young woman's testimony: in 2018, shortly after the case began, the magistrate agreed that Erika should receive alimony from Eto'o of 1,400 euros monthly, as explained by their lawyers. Pension of which, they affirm, until now Erika has not seen a single euro. When you start to pay it (if they can do it), you will have to pay back those amounts that you owe retroactively.
“Erika is 21 years old and she is having a very bad time,” explains Osuna in a telephone conversation to EL PAÍS, “she is barely being able to pay for her studies, finish her teaching career, and she does it working in pizzerias, bars, cafeterias ... while seeing his father living at full speed. He has a lot of heritage and it would not cost him any work to take care of it, "says the lawyer, experienced in famous cases such as the paternity of children of Julio Iglesias, Paco Gento or Rafael Ruiz, from Los del Río.
In addition, there is the difficulty in contacting the former footballer, who lives in Qatar. The notifications have been sent to an address that he owns in Barcelona, but he does not respond. “Also a lawyer who has for another matter, but does not want to take charge of that notification. But of course he knows it from the media and friends, ”Osuna says with conviction. So now they are looking to move forward without DNA testing. "If not, it is very easy to veto and paralyze a judicial process, the powerful always get away with it." They try to stop Eto'o from getting it.
This is not the first case of a paternity claim that the Cameroonian lives. A young Italian woman, now 18 years old and named Annie, was recognized as her daughter by a Palma de Mallorca court in 2004. Annie is the daughter of a woman named Anna Barranca, whom Eto'o met at a Palma gas station in 2001 and with whom she was only three months, until she became pregnant. In the summer of 2019, the athlete was sentenced to pay him alimony of 10,000 euros, but since he did not comply with it, Annie took him to trial at the beginning of 2020.
In addition to those two daughters, the former footballer has three others with his current wife, Georgette Eto'o, whom he met in 2007 and whom he married in 2014. They are Sienna, Lynn and Maelle. He also has two children in Paris named Junior and Soan with whom he hardly has a relationship as he gets on badly with the boys' mother. And there is another son, who he had with María Ángeles Pineda and who in July 2018 claimed 16,400 euros for non-payment of alimony.