We compute the Polyakov loop potential in Yang--Mills theory from the fully dressed primitively divergent correlation functions only. This is done in a variety of functional approaches ranging from functional renormalisation group equations over Dyson--Schwinger equations to two-particle irreducible functionals. We present a confinement criterion that links the infrared behaviour of propagators and vertices to the Polyakov loop expectation value. The present work extends the works of [1-3] to general functional methods and sharpens the confinement criterion presented there. The computations are based on the thermal correlation functions in the Landau gauge calculated in [4-6].

23 pages, 28 figures