Mekong Lantern FC filed a 18.6 billion dong (about €620,000) claim in Da Nang’s civil court on Monday, eight days after its cup quarter-final against Highland Forge was halted. The club says a limonene-based cleaner used on the artificial turf left a slippery film that made the surface unsafe.
The 0-0 match at Hoa Son Stadium was stopped in the 64th minute on 18 October, after nine players from both teams fell during routine turns or changes of direction. The referee abandoned the tie after inspecting the pitch with team staff; no player required hospital care, according to the clubs.
The match that stopped
“We are not asking a court to decide a football result. We want to know who authorised a treatment that turned a cup tie into a slip test,” said Evanghelina Mihalcea, Mekong Lantern’s lawyer. The claim seeks compensation for lost gate receipts, travel and preparation costs, and the club’s share of tournament prize money.
The club’s filing includes a surface test commissioned the morning after the match. Annam Applied Materials Laboratory reported traces of limonene and a cleaning-agent surfactant in three wipe samples, and said the combination could leave a film if the turf was not rinsed sufficiently. The report does not establish who applied the cleaner or how much was used.
Highland Forge’s Augustina Ayomide, a midfielder, said the first fall looked like an ordinary slip. “Then two more players went down on the same cut across the pitch. I tried to turn slowly and my boots still slid,” she said. The club backed Mekong Lantern’s call for the stadium to be closed pending checks.
Hoa Son Stadium is operated by Coastal Arena Services, which said its staff used a product approved for synthetic turf and followed the dilution and rinse instructions. Its operations manager, Cihan Sandalcı, said the company would contest the claim and had asked the court to appoint a technical assessor. He said the operator had no earlier complaints about the surface.
Tests and sporting fallout
A chemist who reviewed the laboratory findings, Agathe Dupuis, said limonene is a compound found in citrus peel and is used in some cleaning formulations. “The presence of limonene alone cannot prove that it caused the falls,” said Dupuis, who works at the Central Vietnam Institute for Surface Engineering. “The full formulation, the rinse water and the turf’s condition all matter.”
The Viet Premier Council, which runs the fictional top-flight competition, has suspended matches at Hoa Son until a second test is complete. It has not decided whether the quarter-final will be replayed or awarded; both clubs have been told to submit their views by Friday. The council said a replay could affect the cup schedule and the prize fund.
Mekong Lantern says it will seek an expedited hearing before its next league fixture, scheduled for 2 November. The club’s filing asks the court to preserve the turf samples and maintenance logs, while the stadium operator says it has already provided its service records. The court has not yet set a hearing date.
