Valdas Dambrauskas was never a professional footballer. Not even close.
He was just a student in Lithuania when he appeared on the show ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ with a very clear plan: to raise money to travel to England and study Sports Science.
With what he won, he settled in London, spent time at the academies of Manchester United, Fulham and Brentford, and in 2007 made his debut as a coach in the ninth tier of English football.
Almost twenty years later, at 49, he is in charge of Azerbaijan’s Sabah FK, a club that did not even exist a decade ago, but was about to enjoy its best days.
He led it to League and Cup titles, guided it to a historic comeback from 4-0 down against Danish side Aarhus, and on August 25 took it into the Champions League league phase for the first time. Now it could face Real Madrid or Barcelona