Valdas Dambrauskas: The incredible story of Sabah's coach

On Thursday, Valdas Dambrauskas will walk out at Old Trafford as manager of Sabah in the Champions League.

The Lithuanian's career will come full circle, some 20 years since he made his first steps into coaching with Manchester United Soccer Schools.

"This is beyond my imagination," Dambrauskas told BBC Sport. "To go through that tunnel on to that pitch.

"I've been many times to Old Trafford with the kids, and now I'm going to come as a coach."

This only scratches the surface of Dambrauskas' remarkable story.

It begins with an appearance on the Lithuanian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Dambrauskas using his modest winnings to move to London and forge a career in football.

It is a tale of casual jobs, a determination to succeed and a nomadic coaching career across Europe - which now brings the 49-year-old back to England in the Champions League with the Azerbaijani club.

As Sabah's players and staff celebrated reaching the Champions League two weeks ago, unbeknownst to Dambrauskas he was becoming a social media star.

It all related to that appearance on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2002.

Not because he was on the show, but how he spent the money he won.

"This is so long ago," said Dambrauskas with a wry smile. "A back-in-the-year story that really was forgotten.

"And now suddenly everybody is speaking about this."

Dambrauskas walked away with 4,000 litas (about £725). That might not sound like much, but it was six months' wages to the average Lithuanian.

For Dambrauskas, the real story should be his career and not a gameshow.

"Everybody now takes only this part, you know, about the money," Dambrauskas said. "But yes, it is a true story.

"My idea was somehow I will try to go on these [coaching] courses to gain the coaching badge, maybe go back one day to Lithuania and start to work as a football coach."

What began with Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? would map out his whole career.

Dambrauskas says he had known since the age of 12 he would not make it as a player, but coaching would keep him close to football.

He arrived in London in August 2002 aged 25 on a student visa with limited English.

What followed would be eight years of hard work where he would coach for community projects, at a semi-professional club, within professional youth programmes - and hold down multiple jobs while raising two children.

In 2004 he enrolled on a course in sports science and coaching at London Metropolitan University, the first real step in his career.

Then he started out coaching by volunteering with the Access to Sports Project for deprived children in Finsbury Park.

He went on to work with London Tigers, a charitable community organisation which runs teams from junior level right through to semi-professional.

Starting out as a volunteer, across five years he progressed to manage the first team in non-league football in the Spartan South Midlands League, FA Cup and FA Vase.

Dambrauskas became the first Lithuanian to achieve a Uefa coaching licence through the London Football Association.

"I went on every possible course, every possible conference, London Football Coaches Association meetings," Dambrauskas said.

"Everywhere I could go just to gain some information, some knowledge, some extra diploma, extra course.

"That was very important for me and I took my chances."

He got his first break at a professional club when Manchester United Soccer Schools took a chance on him in 2004.

Dambrauskas spent five years coaching on residential courses in the UK and in Europe.

"That was the best thing that could happen in my life," Dambrauskas said.

"I went through three or four interviews. I will be forever grateful to [Foundation chief executive] John Shiels, the way he gave me this chance, because I didn't have experience.

"I'd never been in a place with so many great personalities as I got in the Manchester United Soccer Schools."

After a short spell with Fulham, Dambrauskas moved to Brentford. He credits academy director Ose Aibangee as one of the biggest influences on his career, pushing his limits.

All the while he was juggling home life and working multiple jobs to make ends meet.

"I was a gardener, a handyman, doing newspaper rounds at the beginning, also polishing floors in a pub," Dambrauskas said.

"So many jobs. Working in retail, and then as a sports development officer, then a sports development manager, and the central YMCA.

"I was doing two, three, sometimes four jobs."

As well as the trip to Manchester United this week, Sabah will complete their Champions League group games at Arsenal in January.

This also feels like fate for Dambrauskas - one of the buildings at London Metropolitan University on Holloway Road overlooked Emirates Stadium.

When asked about his time in England, Dambrauskas' face lights up.

"When I hear this word 'England', it for me sounds like opportunities," Dambrauskas said.

"It was really amazing. England gave me all this and I'll forever be grateful."

Dambrauskas was working three jobs - at Brentford, London Tigers and as a sports development manager - when the opportunity arose to coach full-time.

It meant leaving England to return to Lithuania, champions Ekranas appointing him assistant first-team and reserve-team coach at the end of 2010.

After four years at Ekranas he was named manager of Zalgiris Vilnius, Lithuania's biggest club, where his career really took off.

Dambrauskas won two league titles, three Lithuanian Cups and two Lithuanian Super Cups across three seasons - including a treble in 2016.

Then came a series of moves in which Dambrauskas took charge of eight teams over nine years in seven countries.

First RFS, with whom he won the Latvian Cup, and then Gorica in Croatia.

A third league title came with Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad, along with another Super Cup and Europa League qualification.

Dambrauskas then returned to Croatia with Hajduk Split, a time which he described as "absolutely amazing" as the club won the Croatian Cup - their first trophy for 10 years.

Next up was a spell in Greece with OFI Crete, then Omonia in Cyprus - who qualified for the Conference League - and Diosgyori in Hungary.

Finally, in the summer of 2025, he arrived at Sabah, the 10th club of his career.

Dambrauskas completed the league and cup double in his first season, as the club won the title for the first time.

It took his trophy tally to 13 across five countries.

Next stop, the Champions League.

Dambrauskas had to navigate four knockout ties to get Sabah to the Champions League, and they are the only club to make it all the way through from the first qualifying round.

Welsh club TNS, Finland's KuPS, Danish side Aarhus and Israel's Hapoel Beer-Sheva were all knocked out.

The final qualifying game was as dramatic as Dambrauskas' own story.

Sabah were going out, then a goal by Tellur Mutallimov in the fourth minute of stoppage time sent the tie into extra time. They went on to win 5-2 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.

"To go to the Champions League is something beyond imagination," Dambrauskas said.

"We have never qualified for the Conference League, we have never qualified for the Europa League. We have never passed more than two rounds in a row in one competition, and now suddenly we are here."

Sabah are based in the town of Masazir - 30 miles north of the Azerbaijan capital Baku - with a population of just 19,000.

Known as the Owls, Sabah were only formed in 2017 and on Tuesday will celebrate their ninth birthday.

Like many small clubs, their Bank Respublika Arena home, with a capacity of less than 9,000, does not meet Uefa regulations. Instead, the club are expected to play their matches at the Olympic Stadium in Baku.

Sabah will host Borussia Dortmund, Barcelona and Napoli, and face a trip to Villarreal - as well as the visits to England.

"It can be a very hard draw, and it can be a Sabah draw," said Dambrauskas, clearly excited by the prospect.

"You dream for this, to play in this competition, to play against those teams.

"So now is the time to show that you can handle it, to find a way to compete and we will try to do this.

"We have a good team, we have an ambitious team, we have hungry players who are really keen to show themselves."

Sabah president Magsud Adigozalov last week was full of praise for Dambrauskas' impact.

"His influence goes beyond tactics," Adigozalov told Report. "He has instilled a mindset and winning mentality in the team.

"Even in the most difficult moments, the team never abandons its game or fighting spirit, which is the result of the coach's work."

Twenty years ago, Dambrauskas looked out over the pitch at Old Trafford during one of his job interviews, dreaming that one day he would stand in one of the dugouts.

Now his coaching career will return to where it started.

"I lived in England when the battle between Manchester United and Arsenal was the biggest rivalry. Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger," Dambrauskas said.

"Now I'm going to come back as a coach in the Champions League and hear that anthem. It's really amazing."

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