Two decades ago, a young Lithuanian arrived in London with little English and £725 in game-show winnings, spending it not on comfort but on the chance to learn. Valdas Dambrauskas built his coaching credentials through volunteer work, multiple jobs, and years of patient accumulation across England's lower tiers before a career that has since wound through ten clubs and five countries. This week, he returns to Old Trafford — a ground he once glimpsed during a job interview and quietly dreamed of — as the manager of Sabah, an Azerbaijani club of 19,000 people who have navigated their way, improb
From Game Show Winnings to Champions League: Dambrauskas' Remarkable Journey
I lived in England dreaming of standing in a dugout. Now I return as a Champions League coach.
Mark
So he won money on a game show and that's what launched everything?
Mimi
That's the surface of it, yes—4,000 litas, about £725, which was six months' wages in Lithuania at the time. But he didn't just spend it on a holiday. He used it to move to London and pay for coaching courses. The real story is what he did with it over the next eight years.
Luke
Right, but we should be clear: the game show appearance only became famous recently, after Sabah qualified for the Champions League. It went viral on social media. Before that, nobody was talking about it.
Mimi
Exactly. He arrived in London in 2002 with limited English and worked as a gardener, a handyman, a newspaper delivery driver, a floor polisher in a pub. He was juggling two, three, sometimes four jobs while raising two children and taking every coaching course he could find.
Mark
And Manchester United Soccer Schools was his first real professional break?
Mimi
Yes, in 2004. He credits John Shiels, the Foundation chief executive, with giving him that chance. He spent five years coaching residential courses there, in the UK and Europe. He says it was the best thing that could have happened to him.
Luke
But we should note that he'd already been working with community organizations and semi-professional clubs for a couple of years by then. He wasn't starting from zero.
Mimi
True. He was the first Lithuanian to earn a UEFA coaching licence through the London Football Association. He was building credentials systematically, even while working those other jobs.
Mark
And then he left England?
Mimi
In 2010, when the opportunity came to coach full-time. Ekranas in Lithuania hired him as assistant coach. After four years he became manager of Zalgiris Vilnius, and that's when his career really took off—two league titles, three cups, a treble in 2016.
Luke
Then he moved around a lot. Eight teams in nine years across seven countries. That's a lot of instability, even if he was winning trophies.
Mimi
Thirteen trophies across five countries by the time he reached Sabah. But yes, he was moving constantly—Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary. Then Sabah in Azerbaijan in 2025.
Mark
And Sabah had never been to the Champions League before?
Mimi
Never. They were only formed in 2017. They're from a town of 19,000 people. To get to the Champions League, they had to navigate four qualifying rounds—the only club to do so from the first round. They beat TNS, KuPS, Aarhus, and Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
Luke
The final match was close, though. They were going out until a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time forced extra time. Then they won 5-2.
Mimi
So it wasn't inevitable. But now they're facing Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, and Villarreal. And they're going back to Old Trafford and Arsenal.
Mark
Is that where this comes full circle for Dambrauskas?
Mimi
Yes. Twenty years ago he was at Old Trafford during job interviews, dreaming of standing in a dugout there. Now he's returning as a Champions League manager.
Le Pouls
- A man who once polished pub floors and delivered newspapers to fund his coaching education now stands on the threshold of football's grandest stage.
- Sabah, a club that did not exist until 2017 and plays in a stadium too small for UEFA regulations, had to survive four knockout rounds — the only club to enter from the first qualifying tie and make it through.
- A last-gasp goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, forcing extra time and eventually a 6-4 aggregate victory over Hapoel Beer-Sheva, was the moment that made the Champions League real.
- Dambrauskas now faces Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal, and Napoli — opponents he approaches not with awe alone, but with thirteen trophies across five countries as his answer to doubt.
- Old Trafford, where he once stood as a hopeful job applicant, becomes on Thursday the place where the circle finally closes.
Two decades ago, a young Lithuanian arrived in London with little English and £725 in game-show winnings, spending it not on comfort but on the chance to learn. Valdas Dambrauskas built his coaching credentials through volunteer work, multiple jobs, and years of patient accumulation across England's lower tiers before a career that has since wound through ten clubs and five countries. This week, he returns to Old Trafford — a ground he once glimpsed during a job interview and quietly dreamed of — as the manager of Sabah, an Azerbaijani club of 19,000 people who have navigated their way, improbably, into the Champions League.
Valdas Dambrauskas arrives at Old Trafford this week as a Champions League manager — a sentence that would have seemed fantastical when he first set foot in London in August 2002, aged 25, with modest English and £725 won on Lithuania's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Where most would have spent the money, he invested it in coaching education at London Metropolitan University, then began volunteering with deprived children in Finsbury Park.
The years that followed were unglamorous but deliberate. He worked as a gardener, handyman, newspaper delivery driver, floor polisher, and retail worker — sometimes holding three or four jobs at once — while earning his UEFA coaching licence through the London FA, becoming the first Lithuanian to do so. A role with Manchester United Soccer Schools proved transformative, opening doors to Fulham and Brentford, where academy director Ose Aibangee pushed him further. But full-time coaching meant leaving England. In 2010, Lithuanian champions Ekranas brought him home as assistant, and from there his career accelerated through Zalgiris Vilnius, where he won a treble in 2016.
What followed was a decade of purposeful wandering — Latvia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus, Hungary — each posting adding trophies and experience. Ludogorets brought a league title and Europa League football. Hajduk Split's Croatian Cup was their first silverware in ten years. By the time he arrived at Sabah in the summer of 2025, his collection stood at twelve trophies across five countries. He promptly added a thirteenth: the league and cup double, Sabah's first title in their short history.
Sabah, based in the town of Masazir thirty miles north of Baku, was founded only in 2017 and draws from a population of 19,000. To reach the Champions League, they had to win four consecutive knockout ties — the only club to enter from the first qualifying round and survive. Their passage was not serene: against Hapoel Beer-Sheva, they were on the verge of elimination before Tellur Mutallimov scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time, forcing extra time. They won 5-2 that night and 6-4 on aggregate.
Now Sabah face Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli, Villarreal, and Arsenal — and a return to Old Trafford, where Dambrauskas once peered out over the pitch during a job interview and allowed himself a private dream. "It's really amazing," he said simply. His president speaks of a winning mentality instilled even in the hardest moments. The coach himself speaks of finding a way to compete. Both descriptions fit a man who has been doing exactly that for twenty years.
Valdas Dambrauskas will walk into Old Trafford this Thursday as manager of Sabah, an Azerbaijani club competing in the Champions League for the first time. It is a moment that completes a circle begun two decades earlier, when the Lithuanian arrived in London at 25 with limited English and a modest sum of money—the prize from an appearance on his country's version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? in 2002. He had won 4,000 litas, roughly £725, which amounted to six months' wages for an average Lithuanian worker. Most people would have spent it. Dambrauskas spent it on becoming a coach.
He knew by age 12 that he would not make it as a player, but coaching offered a way to stay inside the game. After arriving in London in August 2002, he enrolled at London Metropolitan University in sports science and coaching, then began volunteering with the Access to Sports Project, working with deprived children in Finsbury Park. He moved through London Tigers, a charitable community organization running teams from junior to semi-professional level, eventually managing their first team in non-league football. He became the first Lithuanian to earn a UEFA coaching licence through the London Football Association. But the credentials came slowly, built through every course, every conference, every meeting he could attend. Meanwhile, he worked as a gardener, a handyman, a newspaper delivery driver, a floor polisher in a pub, in retail, and as a sports development officer. "I was doing two, three, sometimes four jobs," he said.
In 2004, Manchester United Soccer Schools hired him to coach residential courses in the UK and Europe—a break he credits as transformative. He spent five years there before moving to Fulham, then Brentford, where academy director Ose Aibangee pushed him to expand his limits. All the while he was raising two children and juggling multiple employment to make ends meet. When the opportunity came to coach full-time, it meant leaving England. At the end of 2010, Ekranas, Lithuania's champions, appointed him assistant coach. After four years, he became manager of Zalgiris Vilnius, Lithuania's biggest club, and his career accelerated. He won two league titles, three Lithuanian Cups, and two Lithuanian Super Cups across three seasons, including a treble in 2016.
What followed was a nomadic decade across Europe. He managed RFS in Latvia, winning the Latvian Cup. Then Gorica in Croatia. Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria brought a third league title, a Super Cup, and Europa League qualification. He returned to Croatia with Hajduk Split, winning the Croatian Cup—their first trophy in ten years, a period he described as "absolutely amazing." He coached OFI Crete in Greece, Omonia in Cyprus (who qualified for the Conference League), and Diosgyori in Hungary. In the summer of 2025, he arrived at Sabah, his tenth club. In his first season, he completed the league and cup double, winning the title for the first time in the club's history. His trophy tally across five countries now stands at thirteen.
Sabah, based in the town of Masazir thirty miles north of Baku, was only formed in 2017. The club has a population of just 19,000 to draw from and a home stadium with a capacity under 9,000—too small for UEFA regulations, so they will play at Baku's Olympic Stadium instead. To reach the Champions League, Sabah had to navigate four knockout ties, the only club to make it through from the first qualifying round. They eliminated TNS from Wales, KuPS from Finland, Aarhus from Denmark, and Hapoel Beer-Sheva from Israel. The final qualifying match was dramatic: Sabah were being eliminated when Tellur Mutallimov scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time, forcing extra time. They won 5-2 that night and 6-4 on aggregate.
Now they face Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund, and Napoli at home, with away trips to Villarreal and Arsenal. They will also return to Old Trafford. Dambrauskas spoke of the draw with a mixture of realism and hunger. "It can be a very hard draw, and it can be a Sabah draw," he said. "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." Sabah's president, Magsud Adigozalov, praised Dambrauskas' influence beyond tactics alone. "He has instilled a mindset and winning mentality in the team," Adigozalov said. "Even in the most difficult moments, the team never abandons its game or fighting spirit, which is the result of the coach's work."
When Dambrauskas first looked out over Old Trafford's pitch during a job interview two decades ago, he dreamed of standing in a dugout there one day. He lived in England during the great rivalry between Manchester United and Arsenal, watching Ferguson and Wenger shape the game. Now he returns as a Champions League manager, about to hear the anthem play. "It's really amazing," he said.
Citations marquantes
This is beyond my imagination. 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.— Valdas Dambrauskas to BBC Sport
His influence goes beyond tactics. 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.— Sabah president Magsud Adigozalov
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