President of FFF to quit over World Cup ‘fiasco’

Jean-Pierre Escalettes, President of the French Football Federation, has announced he will resign following the nation’s disastrous FIFA World Cup campaign.

Team in-fighting and poor performances saw France eliminated at the group stage, with striker Nicolas Anelka being sent home from the squad for insulting coach Raymond Domenech.

And Escalettes has now announced he will resign from his post on Friday. He said: “After a weekend of reflection during which I consulted with my elected colleagues and those close to me, I have decided that I must resign. I accept a clear portion of responsibility.

“My decision is essentially dictated by the wish to preserve and facilitate the development of an institution that I have had a passion for for several decades.

“I will hand over my resignation at the meeting of the federal council on 2 July. I will be available to everybody to analyse frankly the reasons behind the fiasco of the French team in South Africa. I will go into these points further on Friday in front of my colleagues in the federal council. In the interval, I will not comment further.”