  Home advantage (HA) in football, soccer is well documented in the literature;
however, the explanation for such phenomenon is yet to be completed, as this
paper demonstrates that it is possible to overcome such disadvantage through
managerial planning and intervention (tactics), an effect so far absent in the
literature. To accomplish that, this study develops an integrative theoretical
model of team performance to explain HA based on prior literature, pushing its
limits to unfold the manager role in such a persistent pattern of performance
in soccer. Data on one decade of the national tournament of Brazil was obtained
from public sources, including information about matches and coaches of all 12
teams who played these competitions. Our conceptual modeling allows an
empirical analysis of HA and performance that covers the effects of tactics,
presence of supporters in matches and team fatigue via logistic regression. The
results confirm the HA in the elite division of Brazilian soccer across all
levels of comparative technical quality, a new variable introduced to control
for a potential technical gap between teams (something that would turn the
managerial influence null). Further analysis provides evidence that highlights
managerial capacity to block the HA effect above and beyond the influences of
fatigue (distance traveled) and density of people in the matches. This is the
case of coaches Abel Braga, Marcelo Fernandes and Roger Machado, who were
capable to reverse HA when playing against teams of similar quality. Overall,
the home advantage diminishes as the comparative quality increases but
disappears only when the two teams are of extremely different technical
quality.
