Fontaine scored 13 times for France in six matches at the 1958 tournament in Sweden.

"He was a star of French football, a peerless goalscorer and a legendary Remois," his long-time club Stade de Reims said in a social media tribute entitled "Eternal Legend".

Fontaine ranks equal fourth with Argentine great Lionel Messi on the all time World Cup scoring list.

He only played in 1958, compared to Messi who has played in 26 matches spread over five tournaments.

Part of a French team which also included Raymond Kopa, Fontaine forged a valuable partnership with him for the national team and later at club level.

His death means only goalkeeper Dominique Colonna, Robert Mouynet and Bernard Chiarelli survive from the 1958 team.

Fontaine was born in Marrakech in Morocco when France controlled the country, and played for Union Sportive Marocaine in Casablanca at the start of his career.

He later joined Nice and scored a hat-trick on his international debut for France against Luxembourg in 1953.

Fontaine moved to Stade Reims in 1956.

At the 1958 World Cup, he began with a hat-trick against Paraguay in the opening group match, which ended in a 7-3 victory.

He also scored twice in a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Yugoslavia, before bagging a further goal as France saw off Scotland 2-1 to reach the quarter-finals.

In the last eight, he scored twice more as France beat Northern Ireland 4-0.

He maintained his scoring record in the semi-finals, netting once against Brazil as France lost 5-2 to a Brazilian team inspired by Pelé.

Fontaine then signed off with four more goals as France defeated Germany 6-3 in the third place play-off.

The following season, he scored ten goals as Stade Reims reached the European Cup final before losing to Real Madrid, who included Kopa in their side.

Fontaine only played 21 internationals for France but scored an astonishing 30 goals.

Injury forced his premature retirement at the age of 28, but he helped found the French Players' Association and also moved into coaching.

He had a spell in charge of the French national team and later coached his native Morocco.

At club level he coached Toulouse and Paris St Germain.

In 2003 he was named by the French Football Federation as the best French player of the last half century.

He was also acclaimed by Pelé in 2004 in a list of the 125 greatest living players.

The French sports newspaper L’Equipe  today described Fontaine as  a “goal machine,” under a headline which read "Just un Legende".

As well as his World Cup golden boot in 1958, he won four French titles with Nice and Reims.