Joannes Julianus "John" Langenus (9 December 1891 in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Place of birth, plus other biography
: ''SpitsBroeders.nl'' website. Retrieved on 18 March 2008. – 1 October 1952 in

Birth and death dates
''Weltfußball.de'' website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008.) was a Belgian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

, who officiated for

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

in three

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

competitions, including the first ever

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

match in 1930.

Life and career

Contrary to some sources, Langenus's parents actually gave him an

Anglicised Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...

Christian name A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often given by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...

, rather than call him "Jean". Langenus first undertook his refereeing exam only to fail it when he wrongly answered a question posed by examiners. The question asked of him was: "What is the correct procedure if the ball strikes a low-flying plane?". Langenus did not answer and failed the exam.

1928 FAI Cup Final

Langenus was selected to officiate the final of the 1927-28 FAI Cup and is the only man to referee both an FAI Cup final and a World Cup final.

1928 Summer Olympics

Langenus was selected to officiate at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

, and he refereed the first round match on 30 May 1928 at the Olympisch Stadion, where

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

beat the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

by 2–0 in front of 40,000 people, and confirmed their place in the quarter-finals. He was then given the honour of controlling the bronze medal game, at the same venue on 10 June 1928, between

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, when the African side were soundly beaten by 11 goals to 3 ( Schiavio, Banchero and Magnozzi all scored

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

s for the winning side).Statistical info
(plus Langenus' middle initial "L"): ''RSSSF.com'' statistical website. Retrieved on 18 March 2008.

1930 World Cup

In the

1930 FIFA World Cup The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 to 30 July 1930. FIFA, ...

, held in

and the first ever to be staged, Langenus handled four matches as referee, plus two as linesman. Two "Group" matches played under his stewardship were followed by the first

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

between

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on 26 July 1930, which finished 6–1 to the

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

n side. Langenus officiated all his matches "whatever the heat, in cap and

plus-fours Plus fours are breeches or trousers that extend four inches (10 cm) below the knee (and thus four inches longer than traditional knickerbockers, hence the name). Knickerbockers have been traditionally associated with sporting attire sinc ...

". The Americans played 80 minutes of the game "with one player missing (broken leg after 10 minutes)" - "substitutes weren't allowed, so the United States played on with only 10 men".Incident in 1930 World Cup semi-final
Argentina v. United States: sports writer

Brian Glanville Brian Lester Glanville (24 September 1931 – 16 May 2025) was an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation" ...

, quoted by the

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008. There was also an incident involving one of the US medical staff, after Langenus had given a foul against one of the American players; "the team's medical attendant raced, bellicose, on to the field, to berate Langenus. Having had his say, he flung his box of medicines to the ground, the box burst open, various bottles smashed, including one full of

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...

, and its fumes rose to overpower the American. He was helped from the field." He then received the notable honour of controlling the

, on 30 July 1930 at the

Estadio Centenario Centenario Stadium (, ; , named after the Constitution of Uruguay of 1830, centenary of Constitution of Uruguay, Uruguay's Constitution) is an association football stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay. Located in the Parque Batlle, Parque Battle neig ...

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

. The home country

met Argentina, and feelings were running high even before the match; the "big, tough, ruthless centre half" "Argentinian

Luis Monti Luis Felipe Monti (15 May 1901 – 9 September 1983) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a midfielder and an Olympian. Monti has the distinction of having played in two FIFA World Cup final matches with two different national teams ...

received a death threat" and the referee "demanded a quick escape route plan to get back to his ship". It was Langenus who defused another potentially serious diplomatic issue when he suggested that, instead of choosing a match ball from either the hosts or the challengers (which was being hotly contested before the event), they use one ball in the first half of the Final, and switch to the other team's ball in the second half. This solution was accepted by both sides. Despite all this, "Langenus refereed skilfully, completely unfazed by the masses filling the ... Stadium ... to bursting point" during the game, which finished 4–2 to the hosts, even though "one of the game's most controversial incidents" was the allowing of the first Argentine goal, which some observers took to be offside.

1934 World Cup

In the 1934 World Cup Finals, hosted by

, Langenus was involved in only one game, the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

match between

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

at the Stadio Littorio in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

on 27 May 1934, which he refereed, and it ended in a 2–1 Czechoslovakia win.

1938 World Cup

The only sanction of any kind which John Langenus had to issue in all his matches in charge during three World Cups was the dismissal of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

's Hans Pesser in the 6th minute of

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

during a first round match in the 1938 competition against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the

Parc des Princes The Parc des Princes (, ) is an all-seater stadium, all-seater football stadium in Paris, France. It is located in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin (P ...

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, on 4 June 1938. After 120 minutes of play, the scoreline remained 1–1, and had to be settled by a replay five days later, the Swiss triumphing 4–2 (though Langenus did not handle the decider). On 19 June 1938, at the Parc de Lescure in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, Langenus received his second great career honour, having been chosen to oversee the

third place playoff Many sports playoffs and knockout tournaments include a third place playoff, third place match, bronze medal game, or consolation game to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. This game is typically c ...

between

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. By resting their tournament top scorer,

Leônidas Leonidas was the king of Sparta who ruled c. 489–480 BC, and who led the allied Greek forces in a last stand at the Battle of Thermopylae. Leonidas may also refer to: People Antiquity *Leonidas I, Greek king of Sparta, ruled c. 489–4 ...

, in the semi-final, Brazil may have caused their own eventual participation in the lesser match instead of gracing the Final as expected. Leônidas scored twice for Brazil, in a 4–2 victory, to help secure third spot.Leonidas goals help secure third place for Brazil
1930 World Cup Finals playoff: ''PlanetWorldCup.com'' website. Retrieved on 6 March 2008.

Later career

Langenus later wrote three books; an autobiography, ''"Whistling in the World"'', and two other football-related works of non-fiction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langenus, John 1891 births 1952 deaths Belgian football referees FIFA World Cup finals match officials 1938 FIFA World Cup referees 1934 FIFA World Cup referees 1930 FIFA World Cup referees People from Berchem Olympic football referees Sportspeople from Antwerp