- 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's Hans Pesser in the 6th minute of extra time during a first round match in the 1938 competition against Switzerland in the Parc des Princes, Paris, France, 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).
- He was a Belgian football referee, who officiated for FIFA in three World Cup competitions, including the first ever Final match in 1930.
- On 19 June 1938, at the Parc de Lescure in Bordeaux, Langenus received his second great career honour, having been chosen to oversee the third place playoff between Brazil and Sweden.
- 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.
- Langenus later wrote three books; an autobiography, "Whistling in the World", and two other football-related works of non-fiction.
- Langenus was selected to officiate at the 1928 Summer Olympics, and he refereed the first round match on 30 May 1928 at the Olympisch Stadion, where Uruguay beat the Netherlands 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 and Egypt, when the African side were soundly beaten by 11 goals to 3 (Schiavio, Banchero and Magnozzi all scored hat-tricks for the winning side).
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