He also had a spell in charge of Paris St Germain and then Morocco in the 1980s and supported their unsuccessful bid to host the tournament in 2006.
Only Gerd Muller of West Germany has scored more goals than Fontaine in World Cup finals, with 10 in 1970 and four in 1974.
Argentina's Gabriel Batistuta, with nine, is the leading scorer still playing.
However, Fontaine believes his achievement is unlikely to be bettered.
"There wasn't a Golden Boot award or anything like that in 1958, so no one thought about it," he said.
"That probably gave me an advantage.
"Nowadays, as soon as a striker scores three goals, everyone starts asking him about it.
"As soon as he thinks about the record, he's finished. The secret is to put it out of your mind.
"Besides, teams are less attacking now.
"To beat my record, a side would really have to go for it, or a player would need to go on a goal spree in the group matches.
"Because the group games are like a mini-tournament, teams tend to be very calculating, so it becomes very difficult."