Fritz Walter, the captain of Germany's 1954 World Cup-winning team, died on Monday at the age of 81.

The news was confirmed by his former club Kaiserslautern, who reported that he passed away at 3:15pm local time.

Walter was a great goalscorer as well as captain and scored 33 goals in 61 matches; he would have played many more times for the national team, but the prime of his career coincided with the Second World War.

The undoubted high point of his career came at the Switzerland-hosted 1954 World Cup when the West Germans defeated favourites Hungary 3-2 in the Berne final.

He had made his debut 14 years previously as a 19-year-old, with a hat-trick in a 9-3 rout against Romania in Frankfurt.

But the war meant international matches stopped in 1942, and Walter did not play at that level until Germany were allowed to compete again in 1951.

He rejected advances from Italian and Spanish giants to remain at Kaiserslautern for his entire career, netting 306 goals in 379 matches.

His international career came to an end when Germany lost to Sweden in the semi-finals of the 1958 World Cup. Walter quit the game in 1959, at the age of 38, and could not be persuaded back.

While he retained a great interest, he switched professions and worked in the rehabilitation of young offenders until retiring due to ill health just four years ago.

He also wrote football books, and famously, during his career, would refuse to fly to matches.

He put the fear of flying down to wartime experience as a paratrooper and could not be persuaded to change his mind.

Walter's death at home comes while Germany, under Rudi Voller, are plotting the downfall of the USA in the quarter-finals of the Korea/Japan-hosted World Cup.

He ranks alongside the great German strikers - Voller, Gerd Muller and Jurgen Klinsmann - and Kaiserslautern's Fritz-Walter-Stadion stands as testimony to his standing in the Pfalz region.