When Valdas Dambrauskas walks out at Old Trafford on Thursday to lead Sabah in the UEFA Champions League group stage, it will mark the completion of a journey that began with a Lithuanian game show and a prize of roughly £725.

The 49-year-old Lithuanian coach told BBC Sport he could scarcely believe the moment. "This is beyond my imagination," he said. "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."

A game show that changed everything

In 2002, Dambrauskas appeared on the Lithuanian edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and walked away with 4,000 litas — the equivalent of around £725 at the time, and roughly six months' wages for the average Lithuanian worker.

He used the money to move to London. The aim: to earn coaching badges and one day return to Lithuania as a football coach. Few could have foreseen what that decision would eventually lead to.

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

Eight years of hard work in England

Dambrauskas arrived in London in August 2002 at the age of 25, on a student visa and with limited English. What followed was nearly a decade of relentless effort — coaching community projects, volunteering with Access to Sports in Finsbury Park, and climbing the ranks at London Tigers, where he eventually managed the first team in the Spartan South Midlands League, the FA Cup, and the FA Vase.

He enrolled at London Metropolitan University in 2004 to study sports science and coaching, and went on to become the first Lithuanian to earn a Uefa coaching licence through the London Football Association.

To make ends meet, he held multiple jobs simultaneously. "I was a gardener, a handyman, doing newspaper rounds at the beginning, also polishing floors in a pub," he said. "I was doing two, three, sometimes four jobs."

His professional breakthrough arrived when Manchester United Soccer Schools gave him his first role at a professional club in 2004. He spent five years running residential coaching courses across the UK and Europe, then had stints at Fulham and Brentford — where academy director Ose Aibangee became one of his most influential mentors.

"England gave me all this and I'll forever be grateful," Dambrauskas said. The connection to England endures: Sabah are also scheduled to face Arsenal in the Champions League in January, and one of the buildings at London Metropolitan University on Holloway Road once overlooked Emirates Stadium.

Thirteen trophies across five countries

Dambrauskas left England at the end of 2010 to join Lithuanian champions Ekranas as assistant coach, before taking charge of Zalgiris Vilnius — Lithuania's most prominent club — where he won two league titles, three Lithuanian Cups, and two Lithuanian Super Cups, including a treble in 2016.

Over the following nine years, he managed eight clubs in seven countries: RFS in Latvia, where he claimed the Latvian Cup; Gorica in Croatia; Ludogorets Razgrad in Bulgaria, adding a third league title, a Super Cup, and Europa League qualification; Hajduk Split in Croatia, where the club ended a 10-year trophy drought by winning the Croatian Cup; OFI Crete in Greece; Omonia in Cyprus; and Diosgyori in Hungary.

He arrived at Sabah in the summer of 2025 and, in his debut season, led the Azerbaijani club to their first-ever league title and a cup double — taking his total haul to 13 trophies across five countries.

Champions League through the hard way

Reaching the Champions League required Sabah to come through four consecutive knockout qualifying rounds — a feat no other club achieved from the first qualifying round. Along the way they eliminated Welsh side TNS, Finland's KuPS, Danish club Aarhus, and Israel's Hapoel Beer-Sheva.

The final qualifying tie was decided in extraordinary fashion. Sabah were on the brink of elimination when Tellur Mutallimov struck in the 94th minute to force extra time. They ultimately prevailed 5-2 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate.

Sabah are based in Masazir, a town of just 19,000 people roughly 30 miles north of the Azerbaijani capital Baku. Founded only in 2017, the club — known as the Owls — will celebrate their ninth birthday on Tuesday. Their Bank Respublika Arena holds fewer than 9,000 spectators and does not meet Uefa standards, so home Champions League matches will be played at the Olympic Stadium in Baku. Their group-stage opponents include Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona.

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