The defender, called "Dixie" throughout his career, played 96 times for East Germany and was voted the country’s Player of the Year on three occasions - in 1977, 1984 and 1985. the only player to do this besides goalkeeper Jürgen Croy.

"Thanks to ’Dixie’ Dörner, not only have we lost the best player in club history, but we have also lost the person who has conquered all our hearts," Holger Schorze, President of Dynamo Dresden, said in a statement.

Dörner, widely known as "East Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer," played for the club 558 times between 1969 and 1986, scoring 101 goals.

He helped Dynamo win five DDR-Oberliga titles and five FDGB-Pokale, the East German Cup, twice winning the double.

Dörner captained Dynamo from 1977 until his retirement in 1989 and is the club's most decorated captain.

He was voted the team's greatest ever player in 1999.

Dörner missed East Germany’s only appearance in the FIFA World Cup, in 1974, when they beat the hosts and bitter neighbours West Germany 1-0 in a group match, after falling ill on a pre-tournament tour to South America.

Dörner only scored seven goals for East Germany during his international career but four of them came in the 1976 Olympics.

East Germany drew their first match at Montreal 1976 0-0 with Brazil before beating Spain 1-0 with a goal from Dörner to qualify for the next stage.

Dörner scored two penalties in the quarter-final as East Germany beat France 4-0.

His remarkable run continued in the semi-final when he scored another penalty as East Germany defeated the Soviet Union 2-1.

In the final, watched by a crowd of 71,617 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, East Germany beat a Polish side that had finished third in the FIFA World Cup two years earlier 3-1.

Dörner claimed the greatest moment of his career was winning the Olympic gold medal at Montreal.

"For me it is definitely the greatest success in football, I will always remember the day," he said.

"You're an Olympic champion your whole life."

Dörner briefly took over coaching the East German Olympic side in 1990 shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall and carried out that role for the united Germany following reunification, but they failed to qualify for Barcelona 1992.

Dörner later became the first former East German trainer for the Bundesliga club and led Werder Bremen in 1996 and 1997.

He died yesterday following a prolonged illness.