The president of the French Football Federation is to resign following his country's disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign.

Jean-Pierre Escalettes released a statement via the FFF website this afternoon confirming his intention to stand down.

It follows the team's exit at the group stage in South Africa with just one point and one goal to their name, a bust-up involving Nicolas Anelka and coach Raymond Domenech which resulted in the Chelsea striker being expelled from the team camp and a subsequent strike by the rest of the squad in protest at Anelka's expulsion.

There have been calls from government officials in France for change at the top of the FFF and Escalettes has now fallen on his sword.

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 my position as president of the French Football Federation.

"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 July 2.

"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."

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