Sport Motivation – a Comparison between Adult Football Players Competing at Different Levels

The purpose of this study was to compare the achievement goal, self-determination and beliefs about the nature and determinants of sportive competence in function of competitive level in 3 groups of adult football players: Professionals (n=105), Semi-Professionals (n=156) and Amateurs (n=78). There were no signifi cant differences in motivational orientations as a function of a competitive level. Amateur players, when compared with Professionals, presented signifi cantly higher levels of amotivation and strongly believed that their sports competence was stable; nevertheless, they reported lower levels of identifi ed regulation. On the other hand, Professionals and Semi-Professionals when compared with Amateurs revealed signifi cantly higher levels of introjected regulation and strongly believed that their competence for the practice of football was due to learning and able to be improved.