Cameroon legend Samuel Eto’o has been declared as the biological father of a 22-year-old woman in Madrid.

The retired footballer has never acknowledged that he was the father of Erika Do Rosario Nieves and he did not attend the court proceedings in Madrid.

The young woman’s mother Adileusa is said to have met Eto’o at a nightclub in Madrid in 1997. 

As a result of the relationship that developed, the lawsuit stated, as per Spanish press agency EFE, that the woman discovered in February 1998 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.”

Eto’o is alleged to have broke off all communication with the mother, who gave birth to Erika in the Alarcon Foundation hospital in Madrid in 1999.