Valdas Dambrauskas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Dambrauskas managing Ludogorets Razgrad in 2021 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 7 January 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Pakruojis, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Sabah (manager) | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| Years | Team | ||
| 2007–2010 | Kingsbury London Tigers | ||
| 2009 | Lithuania U17 | ||
| 2011–2012 | Lithuania U19 | ||
| 2011–2013 | Ekranas Panevėžys (assistant) | ||
| 2014 | Ekranas Panevėžys | ||
| 2014–2017 | Žalgiris | ||
| 2017–2020 | RFS | ||
| 2020–2021 | Gorica | ||
| 2021 | Ludogorets Razgrad | ||
| 2021–2022 | Hajduk Split | ||
| 2022–2023 | OFI | ||
| 2024 | Omonia | ||
| 2025 | Diósgyőr | ||
| 2025– | Sabah | ||
Valdas Dambrauskas (born 7 January 1977) is a Lithuanian professional football manager. He is currently the head coach of Azerbaijan Premier League club Sabah.
Early career
Dambrauskas has been participating in Lithuanian edition of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and with the prize, he financed himself a trip to England where he wanted to attend many coach courses.[citation needed] He studied Sport Science and Coaching in London Metropolitan University and worked as a coach in many famous youth academies, including Fulham, Manchester United and Brentford. His first senior managerial position was with Kingsbury London Tigers in Spartan South Midlands Football League Premier Division, where he managed team to the highest result in club history.[1] For his work, Dambrauskas was awarded in Active Westminster Awards.[2] He also was head coach of the Lithuania national under-17 team between 2009 and 2010.[3]
Ekranas
In December 2010, Dambrauskas joined Lithuanian champions Ekranas as an assistant coach to Lithuanian coach Valdas Urbonas.[4] Together, they won domestic double in 2011 season, the Supercup and A Lyga titles in 2012 campaign, while also reaching the domestic cup final, where they lost to Žalgiris after penalties, and also placed 3rd in 2013. After Urbonas' resignation, he became head coach of the team. Despite scarce resources, he managed to place sixth in the 2014 season, even though this did not help the club, and it was forced to declared bankruptcy after the season had ended. He also managed the Lithuania under-19 team between 2011 and 2012.
Žalgiris
On 17 December 2014, Dambrauskas became new head coach of Lithuanian champions Žalgiris.[5] Together with the team, he managed to win every domestic title until 2017, including a domestic quadruple in 2016 season.[6][7][8] Žalgiris' winning streak finally came to an end on 24 September 2017 when they lost the Lithuanian Football Cup Final to Stumbras.[9] After that defeat, the club's morale was broken; they failed to win any of the following league games, and were overtaken by Sūduva after a 0–3 defeat in Marijampolė.[10][11] This was Žalgiris' first league defeat by three goals since the 2010 season.[12]
Due to these defeats, Dambrauskas decided to resign on 23 October 2017.[13][14]
RFS
Dambrauskas was appointed manager of Latvian Higher League side RFS on 6 December 2017.[15]
Gorica
On 25 February 2020, Dambrauskas joined Croatian First Football League side HNK Gorica as their new manager.[16] On 3 January 2021, Dambrauskas, together with the club's sporting director Mindaugas Nikoličius, left Gorica.[17]
Ludogorets Razgrad
On the day of his departure from Gorica, Dambrauskas was appointed as the head coach of Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad.[18] In early October 2021, Dambrauskas parted ways with the team.[19]
Omonia
On 29 February 2024, Dambrauskas was appointed head coach of Cypriot First Division club Omonia Nicosia starting from the 2024–25 season.[20] He left the club by mutual consent on 29 November 2024, following a 0–3 UEFA Conference League defeat against Legia Warsaw.[21]
Diósgyőr
On 26 February 2025, he was appointed manager of Diósgyőr.[22][23][24] He debuted with a 2–1 league victory over Puskás Akadémia at Diósgyőri Stadion on 1 March 2025.[25]
Sabah
On 20 June 2025, Dambrauskas was appointed head coach of Sabah FK in the Azerbaijan Premier League, signing a three-year contract.[26]
Managerial statistics
- As of match played 18 December 2025
| Team | Nat. | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||||
| Ekranas |  |
26 April 2013 | 19 September 2014 | 60 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 50.00 | |
| Žalgiris | |
17 December 2014 | 23 October 2017 | 124 | 92 | 15 | 17 | 74.19 | [13] |
| RFS |  |
6 December 2017 | 24 February 2020 | 69 | 42 | 9 | 18 | 60.87 | |
| Gorica |  |
25 February 2020 | 3 January 2021 | 30 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 53.33 | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad |  |
3 January 2021 | 3 October 2021 | 40 | 26 | 6 | 8 | 65.00 | |
| Hajduk Split | |
2 November 2021 | 12 September 2022 | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 60.53 | [27] |
| OFI |  |
25 October 2022 | 9 December 2023 | 57 | 32 | 14 | 11 | 56.14 | |
| Omonia |  |
1 June 2024 | 29 September 2024 | 21 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 61.90 | |
| Diósgyőr |  |
26 February 2025 | 30 June 2025 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 25.00 | |
| Sabah |  |
1 July 2025 | Present | 21 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 57.14 | |
| Total | 472 | 289 | 81 | 102 | 61.23 | — | |||