Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to examine undergraduate students’ motivation to participate in Basketball in universities in Kurdistan, Iraq. The participants are first year undergraduate students who study physical education course in universities in Kurdistan. In this study, survey study is used and Sport Motivation Scale (SMS) is used as research instrument to collect data from all the participants motivated by intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation and autonomous motivation to participate in Basketball based on gender difference and frequency of participation. There are 608 participants (441 male students and 167 female students) in this study. Mann-Whitney U test(M-W) shows significant difference in motivation to participate in Basketball among undergraduate students in Iran based on gender and frequency of participation. Intrinsic motivation toward accomplishment and extrinsic motivation such as Identified Regulation, Introjected Regulation and External Regulation strongly motivates the female students to involve in learning and improving Basketball skills and also experiencing pleasure as well as being part of exciting experiences. This study also shows that the frequency of participation among undergraduate students in Basketball is increased by extrinsic motivation (Identified Regulation, Introjected Regulation and External Regulation). Therefore, these results also clarify that motivation to participate in Basketball based on frequency of participation and gender is closely related in extrinsic motivation