France's all-time record goalscorer Thierry Henry has retired from international football following their disastrous performance at the World Cup finals.

Thierry Henry

GettyImages

Thierry Henry's final game was the 2-1 defeat to South Africa

• Henry joins Red Bulls
• Anelka: squad were united

Henry, 32, confirmed on Wednesday he has signed for New York Red Bulls in MLS and will not attempt to retain his place in the France set-up having departed the European football scene. Henry told AP it is "the end for me on the national team".

The news means that the 2-1 defeat to South Africa that confirmed France's exit at the group stages of the World Cup was Henry's 123rd and final appearance for les Bleus.

The forward won his first cap in 1997 and was the country's top scorer as they secured their first ever World Cup triumph on home turf in 1998.

Henry was also a member of the team that followed up that success by winning Euro 2000, and went on to feature in every major tournament up to and including this summer's World Cup finals as he became one of world football's most feared strikers.

He was granted the honour of captaining his country by Raymond Domenech following Zinedine Zidane's retirement in wake of France's defeat in the 2006 World Cup final. He lost the armband ahead of the tournament in South Africa as he was no longer a guaranteed starter in Domenech's side.

In the following year, Henry surpassed Michel Platini's record of 41 international goals when scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Lithuania during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. In total, Henry scored 51 goals in 123 appearances for France.