Del Piero, the Azzuri’s fifth most-capped player and Juventus’s all-time leading goalscorer, attracted 30,199 of the 144,273 votes after a season that saw the 2006 World Cup winner lead Juventus back into Serie A just one year after being relegated and penalised in Italy’s recent match-fixing scandal.

The award, for footballers 29 years and over, takes into account individual and team results as well as a player’s personality and the esteem of the public and football experts.

Among the 10 nomines for the 2007 award were Italy’s FIFA World Player of the Year (2006) Fabio Cannavaro, Manchester United’s Ryan Giggs and English Premier League Footballer of the Year (2003, 2004, 2006) Thierry Henry.

However it was Real Madrid cast-offs Roberto Carlos and David Beckham that provided Del Piero with the closest competition, buoyed by voters in the countries they are now playing in, Turkey and the US respectively.

The Golden Foot winner’s footprints are moulded into the Champions Promenade in Monaco, something that Del Piero believes is an honour. “I'm proud to be in a list with champions like Maradona, Platini and Zico, who left their footprint on the Champions Promenade here in Monte-Carlo,” he said. “For a football player it is massive to remain in people's mind for what he does, scoring or winning.”

The four previous winners of the Golden Foot are Roberto Baggio, Pavel Nedved, Andriy Shevchenko and Ronaldo.

FourFourTwo is the Australian media partner of the Golden Foot Award.