Hans Schaefer, a member of West Germany's 1954 World Cup winning team, has died aged 90, his former club Cologne say.
According to the Bild paper, Schaefer died peacefully on Tuesday surrounded by his family in his life-long home town of Cologne. He had turned 90 on October 19.
Schaefer scored 15 goals in 39 caps between 1952 and 1962, captaining the West German team at the 1958 and 1962 World Cups after the 1954 triumph.
In that final he played a key role in Helmust Rahn's late winner in the 3-2 upset of heavily favoured Hungary. The game has been immortalised in the film The Miracle of Bern.
The left winger spent his entire club career, between 1948 and 1965, at Cologne, winning the national title in 1962 and 1964, the second in the inaugural Bundesliga season.
"Hans Schaefer is immortal as world champion and biggest icon of this club," Cologne president Werner Spinner said in the club statement.
"The whole FC (Cologne) family is in deep mourning and our thoughts are with Hans Schaefer's relatives."
German football federation president Reinhard Grindel said: "German football loses an outstanding player in Hans Schaefer, a strong and always down to earth personality. He did not only write an unforgettable chapter of football history in 1954, the first World Cup title for the DFB changed the whole of post-war Germany."
Lukas Podolski, another Cologne star who now plays in Japan, tweeted a picture of himself, Schaefer and the Cologne mascot, a goat, and said "I am very sad and will always remember Hans Schaefer as the greatest Cologne player and a terrific person."
Forward Horst Eckel is now the sole survivor from the 1954 final.
"It is a very sad day. Hans was a good mate of mine," the 85-year-old Eckel told Bild. "Now I am the last one from the 1954 team, and now I feel lonely."
