The midfield player, who won a total of 49 caps for England between 1955 and 1966, did not play during the World Cup in England, but was the oldest and earliest-capped member of the squad.

He nearly received a late call-up for the final against West Germany at Wembley Stadium when Jack Charlton, who was due to play, caught a cold on the eve of the match.

Flowers was approached by his manager, Sir Alf Ramsey, the night before the final and told that if Charlton had not recovered by the morning he would play.

After a sleepless night, it turned out that Charlton was fine in the morning and, ultimately, Flowers never kicked a ball at the tournament.

In the 1966 World Cup Final only the 11 players on the pitch at the end of the 4–2 win over West Germany received medals.

Following a Football Association-led campaign to persuade FIFA to award medals to all the winners' squad members, Flowers was presented with his medal by then Prime Minister Gordon Brown at a ceremony at 10 Downing Street in June 2009.

Flowers had made his international debut in May 1955 in a 1–0 friendly defeat to France.

He went on to appear in the 1962 World Cup and scored two goals from the penalty spot in the first two games of the group stage.

From November 1958, his second international appearance, until April 1963, Flowers appeared in 40 consecutive England international matches - only Billy Wright has appeared in more.

He also has the distinction of scoring England's first goal in a European Football Championships game - in the qualifying round first leg against France at Hillsborough in 1962.

He scored all six penalties that he took for England.

Flowers helped Wolverhampton Wanderers to three First Division titles and also won the 1960 FA Cup during his 15 years at Molineux between 1952 and 1967, making a total of 515 appearances for the Midlands club.

Flowers, who passed away on Friday (November 12), is the third member of England's 1966 World Cup squad to die within the last two months following the deaths of Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt in September.

Only three members of England's winning World Cup team remain alive.

Sir Bobby Charlton is currently 84-years-old.

The iconic footballer was diagnosed with dementia late last year, which his wife revealed in an interview.

The other remaining members still alive are Sir Geoff Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the final, and George Cohen.