Former France [ Images ] goalkeeper Fabien Barthez has announced his retirement from club and international football, citing family problems.

"I quit the French team, I quit club football," Barthez, 35, told French TV channel TF1 on Thursday.

"I will still have fun without football," he added.

Barthez has been without a club since leaving Olympique Marseille [ Images ] at the end of last season. After quitting Marseille he returned to his birthplace near Toulouse to be with his mother who is ill.

Barthez was France's first-choice goalkeeper from the 1998 World Cup, which Les Bleus won on home soil, to this year's tournament which France lost in the final to Italy [ Images ].

He won the last of his 87 caps, which included European championship triumph in 2000, in the final in Berlin which went to a penalty shootout.

Barthez, an outgoing character instantly recognisable for his shining bald head, played his first match for France in 1994 in a 1-0 victory over Australia [ Images ].

He won the Champions League [ Images ] in 1993 with Marseille before moving to Monaco in 1995.

He spent three years at Manchester United [ Images ], where he won two Premier League titles (2001 and 2003) before returning to Marseille midway through the 2003/04 season.