Harijs Pikols was a Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

n footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, one of the founders of the Olimpija Liepāja

Olimpija Liepaja

Olimpija Liepāja was Latvian football club that in the 1920-1930s was one of the strongest in Latvia and with which played many Latvia national football team footballers. It was from the city of Liepāja.-History:...

 football club.

Biography

In 1921 Pikols was among a group of young Liepāja

Liepaja

Liepāja ; ), is a republican city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea directly at 21°E. It is the largest city in the Kurzeme Region of Latvia, the third largest city in Latvia after Riga and Daugavpils and an important ice-free port...

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

Olimpija Liepaja

Olimpija Liepāja was Latvian football club that in the 1920-1930s was one of the strongest in Latvia and with which played many Latvia national football team footballers. It was from the city of Liepāja.-History:...

. 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

Latvia national football team

The Latvian national football team is controlled by the Latvian Football Federation, the governing body for football in Latvia and represents the country in international football competitions, such as the World Cup and the European Championships. So far, they have never qualified for a FIFA World...

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

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 were allowed to participate in the tournament....

 for 3 years in a row. In addition to football, Pikols also was played bandy

Bandy

Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal.The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football: the game is played on a rectangle of ice the same size as a football field. Each team has 11 players,...

 (won the Latvian league) and ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 (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

Fricis Laumanis was a Latvian football defender the most capped footballer from Liepāja for the Latvia national football team before World War II next to Rūdolfs Kronlaks and Harijs Lazdiņš.-Biography:...

was ready to take his place in the Olimpija defence.