# Valdas Dambrauskas

Valdas Dambrauskas (born 7 January 1977) is a Lithuanian professional football manager. He is the head coach of Hungarian First Division club Diósgyőri VTK.

## Managerial career
### 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. 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. For his work, Dambrauskas was awarded in Active Westminster Awards. He also was head coach of Lithuania national under-17 football team between 2009 and 2010.

### Ekranas

In December 2010, Dambrauskas joined Lithuanian champions Ekranas as an assistant coach to famous Lithuanian coach Valdas Urbonas. Together they won domestic double in 2011 season, received Supercup and won A Lyga champions title in 2012 campaign, while also reaching 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 and despite scarce resources managed to place sixth in 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 Lithuania national under-19 football team between 2011 and 2012.

### Žalgiris

On 17 December 2014, Dambrauskas became new head coach of Lithuanian champions Žalgiris. Together with the team he managed to win every domestic title until 2017, including domestic quadruple in 2016 season. Žalgiris' winning streak finally came to an end on 24 September 2017 when they lost the Lithuanian Football Cup Final to Stumbras. After that defeat club's morale was broken and they not only haven't won a single game in the league, but also were overtaken by Sūduva after a dramatic 0–3 head-to-head defeat in Marijampolė. This was Žalgiris' first league defeat by 3 goals since 2010 season.
Due to these defeats, Dambrauskas decided to resign on 23 October 2017.

### RFS

Dambrauskas joined Latvian Higher League side RFS on 6 December 2017.

### Gorica

Dambrauskas joined Croatian First Football League side HNK Gorica on 25 February 2020.

### Ludogorets Razgrad

On 3 January 2021, Dambrauskas, together with club's sports director Mindaugas Nikoličius, left Gorica. The same day Dambrauskas was appointed as the head coach of Bulgarian champions PFC Ludogorets Razgrad. In early October 2021, Dambrauskas parted ways with the Razgrad team.

### Omonia

On 29 February 2024, Dambrauskas was appointed head coach of Cypriot First Division club Omonia Nicosia starting from the 2024–25 season. He left the club by mutual consent on 29 November 2024, following a 0–3 UEFA Conference League defeat against Legia Warsaw.

### Diósgyőr

On 26 February 2025, he was appointed as the manager of Diósgyőri VTK. He debuted with a 2-1 victory over Puskás Akadémia FC at Diósgyőri Stadion in the 2024–25 Nemzeti Bajnokság I on 1 March 2025.

## Managerial statistics

    As of match played 28 November 2024
Managerial record by team and tenure :
| Team | Nat. | From | To | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Ref. |
| Team | Nat. | From | To | P | W | D | L | Win % | Ref. |
| Ekranas | | 26 April 2013 | 19 September 2014 | 60 | 30 | 11 | 19 | 050.00 | |
| Žalgiris | | 17 December 2014 | 23 October 2017 | 124 | 92 | 15 | 17 | 074.19 | |
| RFS | | 6 December 2017 | 24 February 2020 | 69 | 42 | 9 | 18 | 060.87 | |
| Gorica | | 25 February 2020 | 3 January 2021 | 30 | 16 | 8 | 6 | 053.33 | |
| Ludogorets Razgrad | | 3 January 2021 | 3 October 2021 | 40 | 26 | 6 | 8 | 065.00 | |
| Hajduk Split | | 2 November 2021 | 12 September 2022 | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 060.53 | |
| OFI | | 25 October 2022 | 9 December 2023 | 57 | 32 | 14 | 11 | 056.14 | |
| Omonia | | 1 June 2024 | 29 September 2024 | 21 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 061.90 | |
| Diósgyőri VTK | | 26 February 2025 | present | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | !— | |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | 439 | 274 | 72 | 93 | 062.41 | — |

## Honours
### Managerial

Žalgiris
* A Lyga: 2015, 2016
* Lithuanian Cup: 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016
* Lithuanian Supercup: 2015, 2016, 2017
RFS
* Latvian Cup: 2019
Ludogorets Razgrad
* Bulgarian First League: 2020–21
Hajduk Split
* Croatian Football Cup: 2021–22
Individual
* Active Westminster Awards Active Coach: 2010
* A Lyga Manager of the Round: 2016 3rd round, 2017 1st round
* Lithuanian Coach of the Year: 2016, 2020, 2021