Traffic Chaos Delays Dambrauskas' Champions League Debut, Match Delayed 40 Minutes
Valdas Dambrauskas' team, the former Hajduk coach, failed to arrive at the stadium in Randers on time due to chaos on Danish roads.
Valdas Dambrauskas' team, the former Hajduk coach, failed to arrive at the stadium in Randers on time due to chaos on Danish roads.
The start of the first leg of the Champions League third qualifying round between Danish side AGF Aarhus and Azerbaijani champions Sabah was delayed by as much as 40 minutes on Tuesday, August 5, 2026. The reason was not rain, injury, or a technical issue, but a traffic collapse that trapped the visiting team, led from the bench by former Hajduk coach Valdas Dambrauskas, on their way to the stadium.
The match was scheduled to kick off at 6:30 PM, but the guests from Azerbaijan failed to arrive on time. The hosts were already ready, and the sold-out stands at the Randers stadium eagerly awaited the start. After consultations, it was decided to postpone the kickoff to 7:10 PM, as reported by Danish media TV2.
According to information from Danish media, the bus carrying Sabah's players and coaching staff got stuck in heavy traffic that paralyzed the roads in Randers. The decision to delay was made to give the visiting team's players enough time to adequately prepare and warm up before taking the field, thus avoiding a scenario where an important European match would start without one team.
Sabah, the current Azerbaijani champions, advanced to the third qualifying round of the Champions League after eliminating Welsh side The New Saints and Finnish side KuPS in previous rounds. The return leg is scheduled for August 11, 2026, in Baku.
For the Croatian football public, this event is particularly interesting due to the name on the visitors' bench. Lithuanian coach Valdas Dambrauskas is well known for his tenure at Hajduk Split, which he led from November 2021 to September 2022. After leaving Poljud, Dambrauskas continued to build his career abroad, taking charge of Sabah in 2025.
Although his team eventually arrived late to the pitch, this awkward situation did not affect the regularity of the match, and Dambrauskas got the opportunity to lead his team for the first time as a coach in the qualifiers for the elite European competition.
