Taiwan, which is ahead of South Korea, is determined to be the exclusive stadium for the six-sided national team

Jul 16, 2025

A panoramic view of the Tainan Asia-Pacific International Baseball Training Center to be used as the home stadium for Taiwan's baseball teams. Photo =CPBL stats

Korean baseball is losing ground to Taiwan in international competitiveness. It's time for a real breakthrough.

Koo Weight, chairman of the Taiwan Baseball Association, announced at the national team resolution meeting on the 14th that the Asia-Pacific International Baseball Training Center located in Tainan will be the training base for the national team in the future.

It is the first official training home for the Taiwanese national team. In the future, not only the adult national team, but also the youth national teams under the age of 18, 15 and 12 will set up a 'baseball national home stadium'ET TODAY' to create the best condition, Taiwanese media said.

Lin Zong-cheng, secretary-general of the Taiwan Baseball Association, said "In the future, the training base will be managed by the National Sports Training Center, and we are looking for a site to build a multifunctional building with not only training but also medical and accommodation functions. The national training ground will be more perfect. "The government has already intervened in the plan, and the central and local governments are continuing close negotiations on the national team training ground.'

The Asia-Pacific International Baseball Training Center, located in Tainan, is a large baseball-only complex training center where the second phase of the main stadium officially opened on February 24 this year after the first phase of 2019. There is a main stadium with 25,000 seats in the stands, and two stadiums dedicated to Little Baseball Stadium are located right next to it. There are a total of six baseball noodles in this center. In addition, there is an indoor training ground and a parking lot.

A panoramic view of the main stadium of the Asia-Pacific International Baseball Training Center. Sports Chosun DB

It is also here that KBO league teams Lotte Giants and NC Dinos set up spring camps earlier this year. In the case of Lotte, it visited the first camp and used an indoor training ground and an auxiliary stadium here before moving to Japan, and NC, which visited Tainan for the second camp, used the newly opened main stadium. When I actually visited this place to cover the spring camp at the end of February this year, I was impressed that the site was very large and was a good environment for training. Of course, summer is such a long and hot area that outdoor training may be difficult, but having a dedicated facility is a great development.

In the case of the main stadium, the design reminiscent of Incheon SSG Landers Field, the arrangement of the stands, and the sky box were very comfortable. NC players and coaching staff also admired "The stadium facilities are very good at this level."

Of course, in the case of the Taiwan national team, the remaining five sides and indoor training grounds, excluding the main stadium, will be used as national training facilities. The main stadium is expected to be rented additionally when international competitions, warm-up matches, and practice matches are scheduled in the future.

In addition to a medical center, a specialized weight training facility, and a dormitory for national athletes are planned to be built. An environment has been established in which not only the adult national team, but also youth and youth national team players can exercise in a more pleasant environment with pride as a national team.

Taipei Dome View. Sports Chosun DB

Taiwan is far ahead of Korea in terms of infrastructure. The Korean baseball team has no place to call it a dedicated stadium yet. The adult national team has also been training in the form of KBO temporarily renting some stadiums, including Gocheok Sky Dome, accordingly whenever there is an international competition, and the youth national team has a much worse environment.

Baseball officials negatively predict that they will be further behind Taiwan in international competitiveness in the future. Taiwan actively builds baseball training facilities in each local government as well as Tainan City, and the youth is much more solid. In the recent international competitions of Little Baseball and the youth national team, officials say that South Korea is no longer a Japanese rival, but that Taiwan is a force that can hardly overcome.

2024 Premier 12 Korean Baseball Team. Sports Chosun DB

Taiwanese baseball, which even has an unemployment league, leads from a long-term perspective by having facilities dedicated to the national team, but Korean baseball is not particularly supplemented. Only professional baseball (KBO League) is increasing its size by setting a new record for the largest number of spectators ever, but a strange phenomenon is occurring in which the international competitiveness of Korean baseball does not improve.

Taiwan already has a state-of-the-art Taipei Dome with a capacity of more than 40,000 people and a facility dedicated to the national team in Tainan, raising the possibility of becoming more active in attracting international competitions in the future. The more international competitions are hosted at home games, the higher the competitiveness of international competitions will inevitably increase.

Many baseball players cite such infrastructure differences as the reason why Korean baseball is struggling in international competitions recently. The United States and Japan already have a lot of training facilities, including baseball stadiums. Taiwan and Australia are the places where Korea can compete, but now they are also behind. Gocheok Sky Dome, the only dome stadium in Korea, is a mini dome stadium with a capacity of less than 20,000 people, which is disadvantageous for attracting international competitions, and it is shameful to put out the rest of the stadium or facilities. There is no environment to actively host international competitions and raise the status of Korean baseball. The World Baseball Classic (WBC), which will be held in March next year, is just around the corner, but the competitiveness of the Dane Front Conga International Competition is bound to decline more and more.

This article was translated by Naver AI translator.