Valdas Dambrauskas will walk out at Old Trafford on Thursday, September 10, as the first Baltic coach to reach the Champions League main round. His route began on Lithuanian television in 2002, when he won 4,000 litas, roughly $1,300, on the local version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? He used the money to move to London and study for his UEFA coaching badges while working odd jobs on the side.
He now leads Sabah FK, an Azerbaijani side founded only in 2017. Kickoff at Old Trafford is at 8pm BST.
Sabah’s four-round climb into the league phase
Sabah sealed their place in the league phase in late August, overturning a 2-1 first-leg defeat with a 5-2 win over Hapoel Be’er Sheva after extra time. The play-off closed a run through four qualifying rounds that also took in The New Saints, KuPS and Aarhus.
Domestically, Sabah broke Qarabağ FK’s grip on Azerbaijani football in 2025-26 with a first Premyer Liqası title, adding to back-to-back Azerbaijan Cups.
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Their squad value is reported at €16.65m. Barcelona, another of their eight league-phase opponents, sit at €1.1bn.
“I take this achievement as a milestone and believe that journey is more important,” Dambrauskas told Euronews.
Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani president, called the qualification “a matter of special joy and pride” and “another vivid indicator of Azerbaijan’s progress.”
Manchester United’s first European night since 2023
Manchester United last appeared in the Champions League in the 2023-24 group stage, finishing bottom of their group after two defeats to Bayern Munich.
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They returned to the top four in 2025-26 and were drawn from pot two for the 36-team league phase. Their opponents are Bayern Munich, Roma, RB Leipzig and Sabah at home, with Atlético Madrid, Sporting CP, Villarreal and Como on the road.
Head coach Michael Carrick, who took over after Ruben Amorim’s departure, leads the team out. Dambrauskas’s squad, recruited on a Moneyball-inspired data model, often lines up with eleven different nationalities in the starting XI.
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