The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between sport motivation and athletic burnout in male soccer players participating in the 12^th universiade in Iran. The research method was descriptive/correlational method. 160 players who were members of soccer teams of universities completed these 2 questionnaires: 1- Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) by Pelletier et al. (1995) with 24 items and with 7-point Likert scale assessed 6 subscales of the variable, 2- Athletic Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) by Radak & Smith (2001) with 15 items and 5-point Likert scale assessed 3 subscales of the variable. The data were analyzed by SPSS, Pearson correlation coefficient test and multiple regression analysis at significance level of α≤0.05. The results revealed a reverse and significant relationship between internal motivation and burnout (r= -0.15, P=0.04), integrated regulation and burnout (r= -0.16, P=0.04), identified regulation and burnout (r= -0.26, P=0.01) and introjected regulation and burnout (r= -0.28, P=0.01). There was a direct and significant relationship between amotivation and burnout (r=0.60, P=0.01). Also, the results showed that the components of athletic motivation explained almost 35% of the variance of athletic burnout variable. So, based on these results and according to self-determination theory, it can be explained that motivation and psychological well-being of persons will maximize by satisfying their psychological needs, and thus it is less likely to experience burnout.