Founded in 2017, Sabah FC have gone from Azerbaijani newcomers to Champions League debutants in just nine years, led by a coach whose own journey began on a TV quiz show.
There are football stories that feel almost too unlikely to be true.
Sabah FC's might be one of them.
Just nine years after the club was founded, the Azerbaijani side have reached the UEFA Champions League league phase for the first time in their history, completing a remarkable rise that has taken them from a newly established club to the biggest stage in European football.
Their journey reached its latest chapter on Tuesday night, when Sabah overturned a first-leg deficit against Israeli champions Hapoel Beer-Sheva in one of the most dramatic games of the Champions League qualifying campaign.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Sabah found themselves heading towards elimination once again in Baku.
Then, deep into stoppage time, everything changed.
Tellur Mutallimov struck in the 94th minute to take the tie into extra time.
From there, Sabah refused to let the opportunity slip.
Orphe Mbina put them ahead in the 101st minute before Joy-Lance Mickels added another in the 115th.
Hapoel Beer-Sheva were reduced to nine men as Djibril Diop and Eliel Peretz were sent off during extra time.
By the final whistle, Sabah had won 5-2 on the night and 6-4 on aggregate, booking their place in the Champions League league phase for the first time.
For a club that did not even exist a decade ago, it is an extraordinary achievement.
From Newcomers to Azerbaijani Champions in Nine Years
Sabah were founded on 8 September 2017, beginning life in Azerbaijan's First Division before earning promotion to the country's top flight the following season.
Their own club history charts the rapid progression from those early days to their Premier League debut in 2018-19.
There was no long history of domestic dominance.
No decades of European experience.
No collection of famous trophies.
Instead, Sabah were a young club trying to establish themselves.
But the progress has been rapid.
The breakthrough finally came during the 2025-26 campaign.
Under Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas, Sabah won their first Azerbaijan Premier League title, securing the championship with four matches still remaining.
They then completed the domestic double by beating Zira 2-1 in the Azerbaijan Cup final.
Sabah themselves describe the 2025-26 campaign as a historic season in which they won both major domestic trophies.
For the first time, Sabah weren't simply competing with Azerbaijan's established clubs.
They were becoming one of them.
And now they have gone even further.
How Sabah Turned Domestic Success Into a Champions League Run
The Champions League journey began in July.
Sabah faced Welsh side The New Saints in the first qualifying round, winning 2-0 at home before completing the job with a 2-1 victory away from home.
They then overcame Finland's KuPS before progressing past Danish side Aarhus.
By the time they reached the play-off round, Sabah had already won five of their six Champions League qualifying matches.
But the final obstacle was Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
The Israeli champions won the first leg 2-1, leaving Sabah needing to produce something special in Baku.
They did exactly that.
The second leg became a night that will live forever in the club's young history.
Sabah equalised the tie in stoppage time before taking control in extra time, eventually winning 5-2.
UEFA's official record confirms the extraordinary turnaround, with Sabah progressing 6-4 on aggregate.
The club's rise is no longer just a good story in Azerbaijan.
It is now a European one.
The Coach Whose Journey Began on a Quiz Show
If Sabah's rise wasn't unusual enough, the story of the man leading them makes it even more remarkable.
Valdas Dambrauskas didn't arrive at the Champions League through the conventional route either.
Long before managing clubs across Europe, the Lithuanian was a student with ambitions of becoming a football coach.
And one of the most unusual chapters in his journey began on television.
In 2000, Dambrauskas appeared on the Lithuanian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, known as Šeši nuliai – milijonas.
He won 4,000 Lithuanian litas, with the money later helping fund his move to England.
The story was revisited by Lithuanian broadcaster LRT following Sabah's historic qualification, with Dambrauskas' former clubs and the Lithuanian football community celebrating his achievement.
A television quiz show prize effectively helped finance the next stage of his football education.
And that education would eventually take him much further than he could have imagined.
How Dambrauskas Learned His Trade in English Football
Dambrauskas gained experience around clubs including Manchester United, Fulham and Brentford before taking charge of ninth-tier side Kingsbury London Tigers.
It was a long way from the Champions League.
But it was another important step.
From there, his coaching career took him across Europe.
He managed clubs including Žalgiris, RFS, Gorica, Ludogorets, OFI, Omonia and Diósgyőr before arriving at Sabah.
The CV was already impressive.
But Azerbaijan has given him perhaps his biggest achievement yet.
Within a year of taking charge, Dambrauskas had guided Sabah to their first league title and a domestic double.
Now he has taken them into the Champions League.
And the coach himself was understandably emotional after the victory over Hapoel Beer-Sheva.
"It's a great night. I thank the fans. The players played great."
Then came a sentence that perfectly captured the scale of what Sabah had achieved.
"Sabah is the best team I've coached in my career. We've qualified for the main stage of the best tournament in the world. Today, I'm the happiest head coach in the world."
Why Sabah and Dambrauskas Share the Same Unconventional Journey
There is something fitting about Dambrauskas being at the centre of Sabah's rise.
His own career wasn't built overnight.
It wasn't built through a famous playing career or a straightforward route into elite management.
It started with education, coaching courses, lower-league football and a willingness to take opportunities wherever they appeared.
Sabah's story has followed a similarly unconventional path.
A club founded in 2017.
A rapid rise through Azerbaijani football.
A first league title in 2026.
A domestic double.
And now the Champions League.
The club's own history describes the 2025-26 campaign as the most successful in its existence, with Sabah winning both major domestic trophies.
Less than a decade after being created, they have earned the right to stand alongside Europe's biggest clubs.
That is what makes their achievement so powerful.
Sabah FC weren't a historic giant waiting for their moment.
They were a club still writing their history.
Now, that history includes the Champions League.
And at the centre of it all is a coach who once appeared on a quiz show, used the winnings to travel to England and learn his trade, and eventually found himself leading a nine-year-old Azerbaijani club into Europe's elite.
The Champions League Is Only the Beginning for Sabah
For the players involved, the next chapter will be unlike anything Sabah have experienced before.
UEFA's own club records show just how remarkable their route has been: The New Saints, KuPS, Aarhus and Hapoel Beer-Sheva all stood between Sabah and their place among Europe's elite.
But regardless of what happens next, Sabah have already achieved something that cannot be taken away.
They have changed the history of their club.
They have given Azerbaijan another representative on the biggest stage in European club football.
And they have done it only nine years after opening their doors.
Perhaps that is the most remarkable part of the entire story.
Sabah FC weren't a historic giant waiting for their moment.
They were a club still writing their history.
Now, that history includes the Champions League.
