Among the stories of the new Champions League is that of Sabah and especially its coach Valdas Dambrauskas. The 49-year-old Lithuanian coach has brought the Azerbaijani club, founded just nine years ago, to the single group stage of the top European tournament, overcoming the qualifiers and playoffs one after the other. A milestone built through an unconventional career, which started thanks to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?“.
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Twenty-four years ago, Dambrauskas decided to participate in the Lithuanian version of the famous TV quiz, with a clear goal: to raise the money needed to train as a coach. That young student succeeded in the task and won 4,000 litas, about 1,160 euros today, an amount that allowed him to go to England. There he studied Sports Science and Coaching at London Metropolitan University, while simultaneously seeking an opportunity in the academies of Manchester United, Brentford, and Fulham.
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The apprenticeship was long. Dambrauskas even coached a ninth division English team before returning home and turning that passion into a real profession. From there began an international career that led him to win in Latvia, Bulgaria, and Croatia, until the big opportunity in Azerbaijan. With Sabah came his most prestigious achievement. The Azerbaijani team passed all four qualifying rounds, becoming the first team from the country to do so and making Dambrauskas the first Lithuanian coach to reach the Champions League. The journey included matches against The New Saints, KuPS, and Aarhus, before the final hurdle, Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
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After the 2-1 loss in the first leg, qualification seemed even more complicated. Instead, Sabah overturned everything in the return leg, securing a historic access to the main phase after already winning the league and national cup. Now comes the most exciting reward: in the new Champions League, they will host Napoli. In short, from TV contestant to protagonist of European football: Dambrauskas’s story could not have a better stage.
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