Fans of the Fenerbahce SK left-back gave him undisputed victory with 38 384 votes, against the 18150 for Juventus’ goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and the 12 742 votes for AS Roma captain Francesco Totti.
More than 105 000 votes were submitted to the website www.goldenfoot.com, coming principally from Turkey, United States, China, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Hungary, Brazil, Greece, Germany.
Roberto Carlos succeeds Alessandro Del Piero, who won the honour last year.
The Brazilian (world champion with his country in 2002 and winner with Real Madrid of Champions League medals, two Intercontinental Cups and four Spanish La Liga titles, received the Golden Foot from Prince Albert of Monaco who is patron of the event.
The international Golden Foot Award is presented to soccer players older than 29.
Some of the previous winners of the one-time award include Roberto Baggio, Diego Maradona, Michel Platini, Pavel Nedved, Andriy Shevchenko, Dino Zoff and Ronaldo.