The Asia Series was an international club baseball competition, contested by the champions of all four of the professional leagues that are associated with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) — Australian Baseball League (ABL), Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), Korea Baseball Organization League (KBO League), and Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) — along with the CEB European Champion Cup holder and the host city, to bring the number of teams up to six. The competition was co-sponsored by NPB Association and Konami from 2005 to 2007 and was therefore known as the Konami Cup. Furthermore, the participation was limited to the East Asian countries (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China). The tournament was stopped between 2009 and 2010 due to financing issues. It was re-introduced in 2011 and has been hosted by Taiwan and South Korea, unlike the previous, which were held in Japan. Following the 2013 edition, the Asia Series was discontinued due to the scheduling issues. Background The Asia Series began in 2005 as a tournament among the champions of NPB, KBO League and CPBL and an All-Star team from China Baseball League (CBL), which was called China Stars. Konami co-sponsored the competition until 2007, when the 2008 season became the first Asia Series. Additionally, it was the first time that the champion of CBL was appointed for the tournament, instead of an All-Star line-up. The withdrawal of Konami raised in the following years financing issues. The 2009 season was reduced to a single-game championship between the champions of NPB and KBO League and held at the Nagasaki Stadium. The Yomiuri Giants won against the Kia Tigers by 9–4. A potential 2010 season was then cancelled due to a conflict with the 2010 Asian Games and replaced by another sets of Club Championship. The KBO League champion SK Wyverns first split the two-game championship with CPBL champion Brother Elephants at the Taichung Stadium, before being defeated in a single-game championship by the NPB champion Chiba Lotte Marines at the Tokyo Dome with 3–0. The subject of re-introducing the event for 2011 was discussed in a November 2010 meeting between the heads of the NPB, KBO, CPBL, and ABL. The CPBL offered to host the event in November 2011. The ABL, whose season runs from November through February, added a bye week in its schedule to allow the champion of the season before to participate in the Asia Series.