Harijs Pikols (1903-198?) was a Latvian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

, one of the founders of the

Olimpija Liepāja Olimpija Liepāja was a Latvian football club. It was based in Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-larg ...

football club.

Biography

In 1921 Pikols was among a group of young

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

men who founded one of the best pre-war Latvian football clubs -

. Pikols was a central defender who was known for his very strong shot and who regularly scored from the penalty spot for Olimpija. Pikols also played 5 matches for

Latvia national football team The Latvia national football team ( lv, Latvijas futbola izlase) represents Latvia in international football and is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia. They have never qualified for the FIF ...

. With Olimpija he won 3 Latvian league titles and also the

Riga Football Cup Riga Football Cup was a knockout tournament held in Latvian football between 1925 and 1936. In 1937 it was replaced by the Latvian Football Cup. Clubs from other cities than Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest ...

for 3 years in a row. In addition to football, Pikols also was played bandy (won the Latvian league) and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

(second place in Latvia) with the respective Olimpija teams. Pikols retired from football in 1932 when he saw that the young a talented

Fricis Laumanis Fricis Laumanis (13 June 1910 in Liepāja – 6 December 1981 in New Jersey) was a Latvian football defender who was the most capped footballer from Liepāja for the Latvia national football team before World War II next to Rūdolfs Kronlaks a ...

was ready to take his place in the Olimpija defence.One of the founders of a legend
(in Latvian)

References

Latvian footballers Latvia international footballers Year of death missing 1903 births Sportspeople from Liepāja Association football defenders 1980s deaths {{latvia-footy-bio-stub