The former France defender Lilian Thuram has called on the French Football Federation to ban the captain, Patrice Evra, from future international action.

The Manchester United full-back led the team during their dismal World Cup campaign in South Africa and was a leading figure in the team's refusal to train the day after Nicolas Anelka's was kicked out of the squad following a verbal clash with the coach, Raymond Domenech.

Speaking after this morning's meeting of the FFF's general council in Paris, Thuram said: "I demanded that the players be harshly punished and that Evra never returns to the France squad. When you are captain of the France team, you must have a responsibility to the jersey and the people. When the players shut themselves in the bus, that showed that the coach was no longer respected.

"In any group there are leaders and people who follow, and others who do not agree and do not dare say no."

Thuram won 142 caps for France and was part of the teams that won the 1998 World Cup, the European Championship two years later and the 2003 Confederations Cup. He also played in the 2006 World Cup final, which Les Bleus lost to Italy.

Thuram's former international team-mate Laurent Blanc has today been confirmed as Domenech's replacement as France coach.