History Main / HomeFieldAdvantage

** In fact, the power of a Servant varies depending of how much it's known and/or revered in their current location. For example, WordOfGod states that [[Literature/FateApocrypha Lancer of "Black"]] (UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler) could completely destroy Berserker ([[Myth/ClassicalMythology Heracles/Hercules]]) and Saber ([[HistoricalGenderFlip gender-flipped]] Myth/KingArthur) from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', two Servants whose identities are known ''world-wide'', because he was summoned in his home country of Romania, close to his native city to boot, and has a Skill that lets him secure a certain amount of land as his own and boost his power as long as he remains within the bounds of that land (which fittingly enough, is at the headquarters of the Yggdmillennia). This dual-layer homefield advantage is enough he's able to fight toe-to-toe with [[PlayingWithFire Lancer of "Red"]] ([[Literature/TheMahabharata Karna]]) when normally he would be [[CurbStompBattle completely crushed]] by his [[StoryBreakerPower Gilgamesh-leveled opponent]]. [[spoiler:This is what ends up happening when he is forced to sacrifice said advantage to fight on the enemy's home turf]].

*** Due to being blessed by Poseidon, Caenis is invulnerable as long as she is around the ocean.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'' episode "Totally Rad", the gang visit Radopolis and compete in a skate-off with the villains, where they are losing at first because the competition rink is different from the practice rink, due to Hacker's villainous meddling.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cyberchase}}'', the gang visit Radopolis and compete in a skate-off with the villains, where they are losing at first because the competition rink is different from the practice rink, due to Hacker's villainous meddling.

* One of the consistent themes of all the ''Franchise/SpiderMan'' films has been that he's the "friendly, neighborhood Spider-Man", and no matter J. Jonah Jameson, the people of New York know Spidey's on their side, and they help him out when times are tough.

* In ''Film/SpaceJam'' the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes have the game in their world, which means they have free rein to use all of their wacky and dangerous antics to help them out. In the final moments to the game, Michael himself takes advantage of ToonPhysics to score the winning basket.

* In ''Film/SpaceJam'' the WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes have the game in their world, which means they have free reign to use all of their wacky and dangerous antics to help them out.

* NHL hockey even builds in a procedural advantage for the home team with the "Last Change" rule. After a stoppage in play, the visiting team is required to be the first to make any desired changes to the players it has on the ice. The home team then makes its changes ''after'' the visitors have done so--effectively giving the home coach the chance to create the matchups he wants on the ice at the restart. This often includes choosing a center likely to win the faceoff over the opposing center, or using strong defensive players to shut down the opposition's top scorers.

* The Usefulnotes/OlympicGames require the host country to field athletes in every sport, and thus the combination of more chances and a supporting crowd leads to higher medal counts... although Canada in 1976 managed the underwhelming feat of doubling its tally (5 to 11) but not winning a single gold!

* Happened thrice in Russia, during Sweden's invasion, Napoleon's invasion and UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. The Russians choose to dig in, hoping to grind their opponents in a slow war of attrition. The invaders were forced to keep moving with their supply lines stretched thin and had to survive the Russian winter, which slowed them down and killed some of their forces, while the Russians were able to regroup and rearm themselves for a counterattack. They also employed guerrilla and scorched earth tactics (e.g. burning Moscow to the ground to keep it out of Napoleon's hands). The only time this didn't work is when the Mongols invaded Russia when it was still a collection of squabbling princedoms.
* Averted for Egypt during the Six Day War. Despite being heavily backed by the USSR, the Egyptians performed poorly in fighting the Israelis in the Sinai desert, and were driven all the way back to the Suez Canal.

* In UsefulNotes/RugbyUnion, New Zealand are the dominant national team with a winning record against every team they've played, regardless of where the match is held. However, this trope is played bizarrely straight in (men's) Rugby World Cups, where every time they faced a solo or primary host nation (South Africa in [[Film/{{Invictus}} 1995]], Australia in 2003, France in 2007[[note]]France was the primary host, but two matches were held in Edinburgh and four in Cardiff.[[/note]] and 2023), they have lost.[[note]]The All Blacks lost in the final in 1995, the semifinals in 2003, the quarterfinals in 2007 (in Cardiff), and in pool play in 2023. The [=ABs=] did make the 2023 final... which they lost to South Africa.[[/note]] New Zealand themselves also play this straight, having won both World Cups which they have hosted or co-hosted.

* Any sports team based in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}}. The Mile-High City's extreme elevation means its air is thin, requiring more labored breathing for anyone not acclimated. Naturally this means that players who live there will have an easier time than rival teams who only arrived on game day. [[https://techbriefly.com/2022/01/10/why-denver-sports-teams-have-the-best-home-field-advantage/ In all American major leagues except hockey]], it was noted that Denver teams are the most likely to win home games for this exact reason, and even in hockey, the Avalanche are still pretty high on the list at #7.

*** In 2015/16, Leicester's King Power stadium developed a reputation as a near impossible place to win, the team losing only once (2-5 to Arsenal in September), as they won their impossible title.

* In UsefulNotes/RugbyUnion, New Zealand are the dominant national team with a winning record against every team they've played, regardless of where the match is held. However, this trope is played bizarrely straight in Rugby World Cups, where every time they faced a solo host nation (South Africa in 1995, Australia in 2003, France in 2007 and 2023), they have lost. New Zealand themselves also play this straight, having won both World Cups which they have hosted or co-hosted.

* Sometimes happens on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' During the "Lipsynch For Your Life" portion, if the song is more suited to one queen's style than the other's. For instance, in the first UK season, Cheryl Hole is a professional Music/CherylCole [[CelebrityImpersonator impersonator]] and naturally did well when she had to lipsynch to a Cheryl Cole song. But in the following episode, she was up against Baga Chipz to an Music/AmyWinehouse song, and since Winehouse was a huge influence on Baga's drag, Cheryl's pop-based dance moves don't save her since Baga was better able to embody the artist and sends Cheryl packing. It's an OpenSecret that production will sometimes deliberately choose a song that favors the style of the queen they'd prefer to keep.

** When building Metlife Stadium to replace the old Giants Stadium, the New York Giants and New York Jets decided not to give the new stadium a roof (even though doing so would give them the ability to generate revenue from indoor venue events outside of football) because they liked having the advantage of visiting teams quarterbacks and kickers having to adapt to the swirling winds of the New Jersey Meadowlands.
** Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington, is known as one of the loudest stadiums in the NFL, as a result of the fans, and the roof of the stadium reflecting crowd noise onto the field, resulting in a higher than average number of false start and delay of game penalties being comitted by visiting teams. Lumen field had claimed the Guiness World Record for the loudest NFL stadium in 2013 with a noise level of 136.6 decibels, only to be outdone by the crowd at Arrowhead Stadium at 137.57 decibels. Seahawks fans reclaimed the record in 2014 with a noise level of 137.6 decibels, only to be surpassed yet again by Chiefs fans at a noise level of 142.2 decibels, which has since stuck.

** Unique to the sport, the playing dimensions are distinct at every stadium. Outfield fences are not uniform in either their shape or distance from home plate - they only need to be some minimum distance (and even then Boston's Fenway Park, which would otherwise be in violation of these regulations, is [[GrandfatherClause grandfathered in]] due to the park's age), allowing teams to construct their angles and dimensions for practical reasons or to be intentionally quirky. Teams will tailor their rosters to take advantage of these quirks - Yankee Stadium, for example, has traditionally had a pretty short right field, so lefty power hitters often hit a lot of homers in that direction. Supposedly, this was intentional - Babe Ruth, a lefty and probably the first player to be known for his big bat, was already a Yankee when the first Yankee Stadium was built in 1923. Incidentally, the Yankees often have a high proportion of power hitters that can hit lefty (either naturally or as a switch-hitter) on their roster.
** In addition, the outdoor elements impact a home field as much as the fence dimensions. Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles is enveloped at night by the Pacific Ocean's marine layer, making it more difficult for fly balls to penetrate it for distance than a neutral park, giving the advantage to pitching, which is why the Dodgers are typically near or at the top of the league in fewest runs allowed every year. On the flip side, Coors Field in Colorado is a mile above sea level, and the thin air exponentially boosts fly balls to incredible degrees, even with the somewhat deep field dimensions. This, in effect, has turned the Colorado Rockies franchise into baseball's perpetual GlassCannon; no matter the roster, they will be atop offensive categories in the league and at the bottom in pitching. While the Rockies have no trouble developing or signing hitters, developing or convincing pitchers to come there is a whole other story. This forces Colorado into simply bludgeoning teams to win at home, and can even the odds against teams with superior pitching, who will be negated by the altitude of the park.
** In an MLB game, the home team bats second in an inning, giving them a slight advantage. If they are ahead at the middle of the 9th, they automatically win. If behind, they have one last chance to tie the game (going into extra innings) or win by pulling ahead.

** Football Association rules also dictate the maximum possible length and width of a football field, but allow for variations of plus or minus twenty yards. The lower division side Shrewsbury Town have the longest football pitch in England--it was even larger than the old Wembley Stadium--and its sheer size both disorientates and tires visiting teams.

*** Old Trafford, home stadium of Manchester United (arch-rivals of the above mentioned Liverpool), dubbed 'the Theatre of Dreams' by club legend Sir Bobby Charlton, was the basis for two decades of dominance of the English game. It helps that with a capacity of over 75,000, it's the largest club stadium in Britain, second largest stadium as a whole in Britain and ninth largest in Europe. The phenomenon of "Fergie time" has often been remarked upon; there was a distinct tendency for even the ''referee'' to be intimidated both by the size of Old Trafford, its vocal home support, and the tendency of United's players to be vocally and intimidatingly dissenting of decisions that went against them. Something their manager Sir Alex Ferguson turned a seriously blind eye to. Referees were also horribly aware that a bad match report from a manager of the biggest and most financially powerful team in the Premiership could well be held against them in their own performance reviews. Too many negative reports from team managers, and a referee risked losing his status as an official in the top flight. Quite often injury time might stretch out for an unfeasibly long, long, time past the official ninety minutes, and it was remarked upon how quickly the games then ended after United scored an equaliser or a winning goal at home. Not that the ref was ever being intimidated by the ground, the team, or by Fergie the manager, of course!

*** In the Netherlands, ''De Kuip'', the home stadium of Feyenoord Rotterdam has this reputation. Feyenoord's fanbase, nicknamed ''Het Legioen'' (The Legion), is considered the most fanatic in the Netherlands. Just as with Liverpool, it is not impossible to snatch a victory for opposing teams thanks to the disappointing results of Feyenoord. However, the atmosphere is that intimidating that even ''home players'' crumble under the pressure of playing there, making it a disadvantage. Moreover, the Royal Dutch Football Association admitted that when young referees are being groomed to become full members of the referee squad, the atmosphere in De Kuip is taken into consideration. First, referees are only allowed to lead matches on lower levels in small stadiums. Then they progress to bigger stadiums for higher ranked teams. Leading a match in Rotterdam is considered the final step.

* Sometimes a sport can have a time-zone ''disadvantage''. One factor in why the Los Angeles Kings fairly easily handled the New Jersey Devils in the 2012 [[UsefulNotes/TheStanleyCup Stanley Cup]] playoffs was theorized to be the fact that the NHL's Western Conference (which the Kings play in) had cities in four time zones (Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern), while the Eastern Conference only had a single city (Winnipeg) outside the Eastern Time Zone. The Kings were therefore used to playing at very different times when on the road compared to the Devils. Following the 2013 NHL realignment, the Eastern Conference now contains only the sixteen teams in the Eastern Time Zone, while the Western Conference contains the fourteen teams in the other three time zones.

* UsefulNotes/TheCommonwealthOfNations' own version of the Olympics, the Commonwealth Games, has seventeen sports: ten compulsory sports[[note]]athletics (track and field), badminton, boxing, hockey (field hockey), lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, swimming, weightlifting[[/note]] and seven optional sports which the host nation chooses. Cue host nations picking optional sports they know they can win gold medals in.

* In 2023's ''Film/{{Napoleon|2023}}'', Russia and its dreaded {{winter|Warfare}} are the hardest conditions UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's armies face by far, with well-equipped Russians making ample use of HitAndRun Tactics and forests to ambush them.

* In ''Film/FuriousSeven'', the team invokes this trope by stating that they should face their adversaries on the streets they know best: Los Angeles.

** The Uchiha Clan compound's layout might be fairly well-known by all of the Konoha shinobi but not that of the Police Headquarters and the Naka Shrine (where they have private Clan meetings). This proves to be a problem for Kakashi when he plots to retrieve [[spoiler: kid!Naruto]]. He [[ExploitedTrope exploits the advantage]] by asking an Uchiha ANBU (aka Fukurou) for help. She provides little-used entrances and the needed location but further [[InvokedTrope invokes]] the trope by saying it's not a joke "all the Uchiha look alike", so he'll get lost in a place full to the brim of them. Fortunately, Kakashi has kid!Sakura, who saw and thus can recognize the person that kidnapped [[spoiler: Naruto and Ino]], on his side.

* In ''Videogame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2'', the second Acolyte is an extremely powerful sorcerer whom even Dracula cannot face in a fair fight. So Dracula lures the overconfident Acolyte into following him into Castlevania, a MentalWorld that is the embodiment of Dracula's power and memories. Castlevania's power weakens the Acolyte enough to give Dracula a chance to defeat him.
* ''Videogame/{{Civilization}}'':

* ''Videogame/{{Overwatch}}'': [[MadBomber Junkrat]] [[DiscussedTrope quotes this word for word]] when he gets a kill on Junkertown. Some characters are naturally better at some maps than others ([[ColdSniper Widowmaker]] is better when there's a lot of high ground and long sightlines, for example) but this trope doesn't seem in force at all.

* In ''VideoGame/StarCraft'', the Zerg have the advantage that when they're fighting on creep (the stuff their buildings grow on) their units heal faster. In ''Videogame/StarcraftII'', Zerg Units also receive a speed boost when walking on creep.
* The Hoonan of ''Videogame/StarRuler2'' - a race of cyborgs- become more effective at fighting when their fleets are near friendly Mainframe data hub stations, while weaker when far away.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', native gods (that is, gods worshiped only in a small region) can surpass wide-ranging and high-ranking gods in power as long as they are within their area.
* Similarly to the aforementioned Zerg, the Undead race in ''Videogame/WarcraftIII'' receives a health regeneration boost when standing on blighted ground, which is generated by their buildings. In fact, undead units can only regenerate health passively on blighted ground, but do so faster compared to the races.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

*** However, in the women's version, only the USA (won in 1999, third in 2003) and Australia (fourth in 2023) have ever advanced to the semifinals or beyond at home. Every other host has lost in the quarterfinals.

* Camp Nou has nothing on [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootball US college football]]. Barça, we'll see your 99,000... and raise you by ''eight''. That's the number of college stadiums that hold ''over 100,000''.[[note]]From largest to smallest, by school: [[UsefulNotes/UniversityOfMichigan Michigan]], Penn State, Texas A&M, Tennessee, LSU, Ohio State, Alabama, Texas[[/note]] All have reputations as difficult for visitors. And atmospheres that are equally intimidating, or even more so, can be found even in noticeably smaller college venues.

** In the first Tobey Maguire film, they pelt Green Goblin with bricks and stuff after Spidey [[TakeAThirdOption Takes a Third Option]] on his SadisticChoice.
** In the second, after Spidey collapses stopping a runaway train from going off the tracks, the people inside pull him on board, hand him back his mask, promise they won't say anything, then try to stand between him and Doctor Octopus.
** In the Andrew Garfield film, after he's injured fighting the Lizard and needs to get across town as soon as superhumanly possible, construction workers (led by the father of a little boy Spidey saved) line up their cranes to give him a clear path, and a news chopper [[NoticeThis spotlights it for him]] so he can't miss it.

*** However, in the women's version, only the USA has ever advanced to the semifinals or beyond at home (won in 1999, third in 2003). Every other host has lost in the quarterfinals.

* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresIV'': [[UsefulNotes/England The English]] are a well-rounded, SimpleYetAwesome beginner-friendly faction whose bonuses lend themselves well to a turtling, defensive playstyle. Their "Network of Castles" feature grants additional attack speed to units in close proximity to Town Centers, Outposts, Towers and Keeps, and they are masters of archery - their unique [[JackOfAllStats Longbowman]] unit has superior range even compared to the fully-upgraded archers of other civilizations, and if that wasn't enough, their Town Centers shoot more arrows at approaching enemies ''and'' their villagers also carry bows for self-defence. Anyone who tries to raid and take the fight to an English town in the early game is probably going to [[RainOfArrows wind up pin-cushioned]].

* In UsefulNotes/RugbyUnion, New Zealand are the dominant national team with a winning record against every team they've played, regardless of where the match is held. However, this trope is played bizarrely straight in Rugby World Cups, where every time they faced a solo host nation (in 1995, 2003 and 2007), they have lost. New Zealand themselves also play this straight, having won both World Cups which they have hosted or co-hosted.

* Franchise/MonsterVerse:
** [[Characters/MonsterVerseGodzilla Godzilla]] is a lumbering MightyGlacier on land, but he's surprisingly fast when swimming in the ocean. In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', he takes advantage of this when [[spoiler:he drags King Ghidorah underwater during their second fight. Godzilla can fight easily in the ocean, while Ghidorah is hampered by his massive wings.]] Similarly, during his first encounter at sea with Kong in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', Godzilla is able to nearly kill Kong (who, as an ape, is poorly suited for the water) very quickly by just dragging him underwater to drown him.
** Conversely in regards to ''Godzilla vs. Kong'', when Godzilla and [[Characters/MonsterVerseKingKong Kong]] face off a second time in Hong Kong, the big ape can [[KingKongClimb rapidly swing between the skyscrapers]] and more easily dodge Godzilla's attacks.
** In the tie-in graphic novel ''Kingdom Kong'', [[Characters/MonsterVerseKaiju Camazotz]] takes full advantage of being a GiantFlyer whilst fighting Kong, a versatile but ultimately land-bound Titan who doesn't really have anything his size to swing off of. It's when Kong has Camazotz on the ground that the latter is in trouble.

* Sometimes happens on ''Series/RuPaulsDragRace'' During the "Lipsynch For Your Life" portion, if the song is more suited to one queen's style than the other's. For instance, in the first UK season, Cheryl Hole is a professional Music/CherylCole [[CelebrityImpersonator impersonator]] and naturally did well when she had to lipsynch to a Cheryl Cole song. But in the following episode, she was up against Baga Chipz to an Music/AmyWinehouse song, and since Winehouse was a huge influence on Baga's drag, Cheryl's pop-based dance moves don't save her since Baga was better able to embody the artist and sends Cheryl packing.