Career
He played for clubs such as Olimpija, South Carolina Freiburg, Olympiakos Nicosia, APOEL, Football Club Porto and Olimpija. After the original NK Olimpija went bankrupt in 2005, he joined the newly formed NK Bezigrad and successfully took them back to the top tier in record time. After a dispute in 2009, he left the club and joined Football Club Koper on a combined player-director of football contract.
His second season there started poorly – after a resounding 5–1 defeat away to NK Dinamo Zagreb in Union of European Football Associations Champions League qualifiers, he announced his immediate retirement, only to return to the Koper team a week later for a single league match against NK Rudar Velenje.
Soon, after another dispute with club leadership regarding player signings and departures, he left the club altogether. Pavlin made 65 appearances for the senior Slovenia national football team
He was a participant at the 2002 Fédération internationale de football association World Cup and Union of European Football Associations Euro 2000. During the second leg of Slovenia"s Euro 2000 play-off against Ukraine, it was Pavlin"s goal which secured a 1-1 draw and an aggregate victory to send Slovenia to their first major tournament.