The objective of this study was to assess the meaning of arbitrating to Brazilian soccer referees. Twenty four professional referees were assessed. Among them, seventeen were part of FIFA's referee list in 2011(ten referees and seven assistant referees) and seven aspiring FIFA referees through one question: "What does officiating mean to you?" The discourse analysis was performed according to Miles; Huberman (2004) guidelines. Four answer categories were obtained: development of competencies and recognition, feelings regarding officiating and soccer; livelihood as well as relation with soccer. This leads us to consider that part of the "soccer show", was itself a factor of commitment to the activity, in addition, the award represents a significant part of life and the meaning of refereeing assigned to arbitrate shows that the activity becomes passion and apparently in positive adaptations to different situations faced forward, regardless of the level or the role it plays in the field.
Soccer; Officiating; Meaning
