Raymond Domenech ended his troubled reign as France coach in controversial fashion by refusing to shake South Africa coach Carlos Alberto Parreira's hand at the end of their World Cup clash.

The 58-year-old, who saw his side's catastrophic campaign end with a 2-1 defeat by the hosts, refused to expand on why he had not accepted the traditional shake of the hand from the World Cup winning coach.

Parreira, who narrowly missed taking the 'Bafana Bafana' into an unlikely second round spot from Group A, placed his hand on Domenech's wrist as the two men exchanged words.

Domenech was in no mood to enlighten anyone about what he had said to Parreira.

"I have no intention of replying to this question," he said.

"Is there another question?," he asked after the question was posed to him again by another journalist.

A third tried his luck: "Why are you refusing to answer this question?" to which Domenech responded: "Is there another question?"

"If these are all the questions you are going to ask me, I am going to leave you, we are not from the same world," he added later, in response to a question about the crisis in the French team.

Parreira, who guided Brazil to the 1994 title, tried to explain the snub.

"I believe it was because I had criticised his team after they qualified (when they controversially beat Ireland in the play-offs), but I really don't remember.

"This is what his assistants told me."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP