Career
Kulikov played for Football Club Pakhtakor Tashkent as a defender from 1976 to 1979, before he died in a mid-air plane crash in August 1979. He was classified as a Master of Sport of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics in 1979. At twelve Nikolai Kulikov was farmed to Football Club Dinamo (Moscow).
His first coaches were the famous Soviet football players Kesarev and Solovyev.
In 1974 Nikolai Kulikov, a young half-back, was invited to Football Club Khanki (Khorezm, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic) where he played for two seasons. In 1976 Nikolai Kulikov successfully played for Football Club Yangier (Yangier, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic) and was recruited by Football Club Pakhtakor (Tashkent, Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic).
In 1977 Football Club Pakhtakor demonstrated an excellent team play and qualified for the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics Top League. Nikolai Kulikov invaluably contributed to Football Club Pakhtakor success with twenty-one matches in defence and one goal.
He was highly praised for high mobility, good play thinking, and reciprocity and sincere friendship with team mates.
At 26 died together with sixteen Football Club Pakhtakor players and staff in a mid-air collision over Kurilovka (Dneprodzerzhinsk, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). Buried in his patrimony Krivskoye (near Obninsk, Borovskiy District, Kaluga Oblast, Russia).
