Before the end of 1930, John Langenus, who was considered by many as the best referee in the world, was asked by Torsten Tegner, the experienced journalist of the famous Iddrotsbladet, a question regarding the best players he had seen in his entire career of referee. Langenus not only mentioned the best players but also quoted that, according to him, the football played in lates 10s and early 20s were better than current football — he was interviewed in december of 1930.

According to Langenus, Zamora was the best goalkeeper that he has seen, followeed by the Argentine Bossio and the great Czech goalkeeper, František Plánička. Langenus completed the list adding van der Meulen, from Netherlands, and the Belgian Debie. The referee also mentioned that when Plánička reached his peak, he was considered better than Zamora.

Between the defenders, Langenus listed the following: José Nasazzi(Uruguay), Josef Blum(Austria), Károly Fogl(Hungary), Axel Alfredsson(Sweden), Fritz Tarp(Denmark), Armand Swartenbroeks(Belgium), Harry Denis(Netherlands), Umberto Caligaris(Italy) & Rudolf Ramseyer(Switzerland).


Karel "Káďa" Pešek

Among the midfielders that Langenus liked were the following names: the famous Karel "Káďa" Pešek, Juan Evaristo, from Argentina, the Uruguayan star Andrade, the Englishmen Hill and Wilson, the Irishman Mike O'Brien and František Kolenatý, the famous right half-back from Czechoslovakia.

?️ "A miracle player who masters the ball technique down to the smallest detail." — John Langenus on Káďa.

Langenus notes in the introduction that there are no such forwards as Alfréd Schaffer and György Orth in current days. He mentioned several others names, here: Dixie Dean(England), Raimundo Orsi(Argentina), Friederich Gschweidl(Austria), David Jack(England), Imre Schlosser(Hungary), František Svoboda(Czechoslovakia), Sven Rydell(Sweden).