Sabah manager Valdas Dambrauskas has opened up on how special it will be to lead his players out when they face Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
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Sabah have taken the football world by storm with their meteoric rise. Founded as recently as 2017, the club will this season fulfil the dream of playing in the Champions League.
And no one personifies the club’s remarkable journey more than their manager, whose own rise from obscurity to the Champions League is the stuff of fairytales.
Dambrauskas famously appeared on ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ in 2002 and it was his winnings from that show that enabled him to pursue the improbable ambition of a career in football management.
He didn’thave a football career and was only a student when he appeared on Lithuania’s version of the popular show. He walked away with 4,000 Lithuanian litas, which he used to bankroll a move to England. He studied Sports Science and Coaching at London Metropolitan University and in the process, worked with several youth academies and set-ups including United, Brentford and Fulham.
He then took over at Kingsbury London Tigers down in the ninth tier and did well there before heading back to Lithuania to coach the youth set-up.
The 49-year-old enjoyed trophy-laden spells in Latvia, Bulgaria and Croatia, yet it is at Sabah where he has made his biggest mark. Appointed last summer, he wasted no time in delivering the club’s first league crown as part of a domestic double.
Sabah were just the only one of 28 teams that entered in the first qualifying round to survive all four stages and reach the league phase of the Champions League.
He will be hoping to add another chapter to this fairytale when his side visits Old Trafford this week.
Dambrauskas spoke to the BBC and reflected on his story and the upcoming chance to test himself against Michael Carrick’s men.
Sabah boss speaks
He said about facing United, “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.”
Asked about turning out for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, he answered, “This is so long ago. A back-in-the-year story that really was forgotten. And now suddenly everybody is speaking about this.”
“Everybody now takes only this part, you know, about the money. 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.”
He said of being part of Manchester United Soccer Schools in 2004, “That was the best thing that could happen in my life.”
“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.”
He revealed the immense challenge of balancing multiple jobs, raising a family, and chasing his football dream all at once.
United vs. Sabah kicks off at 8 pm.
Featured image by Jan Kruger via Getty Images
