Analysis of the burnout levels of soccer referees working at amateur and professional leagues of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

The soccer refereeing is associated to factors that can lead to the emergence of occupational stress and, therefore, the burnout syndrome. The purpose of the present study was to analyze the components of this syndrome in referees working in amateur and professional leagues. Thirty-six referees belonging to the Rio de Janeiro State Football Federation took part in the study, 19 working at the metropolitan professional league of Rio de Janeiro and 17 at the amateur league of the north central region of Rio de Janeiro state. The Burnout Inventory for Referees (BIR) and a socio-demographic questionnaire were used. The results showed that: 1) professional league referees presented higher refereeing time (p = 0.004), while amateur league referees showed higher scores in the sport devaluation dimension (p = 0.011); 2) there was a positive, moderate and significant correlation between the refereeing time and the reduced sense of sports accomplishment in the amateur league (r = 0.50; p = 0.041); 3) a moderate and positive correlation was observed between the refereeing time and the BIR total score in the amateur league (r = 0.57; p = 0.017). The study concluded that referees working at the amateur soccer league may develop burnout syndrome in higher levels than referees of the professional league.