He developed into a top division player with NK Rijeka, helping it to two sixth place finishes and one fourth in the newly founded Croatian First Football League; in the 1993–94 Croatian Cup, he scored the game's only goal in the second leg of the final, albeit in an eventual 1–2 aggregate loss.

In the 1994, summer Pavličić moved to Spain and signed for Hércules CF, in Segunda División, winning promotion to La Liga in his second year and netting a career-best six goals in 38 games in the following season, which nonetheless ended in relegation, with the player scoring in both games against FC Barcelona (3–2 win at the Camp Nou and 2–1 success at home).

He settled in the nation subsequently, also playing amateur football for club Sporting Plaza in the Alicante area.

[2] His debut came on 8 July 1992 in a 1–3 friendly loss with Australia in Adelaide, and he was selected for the squad that appeared at UEFA Euro 1996, playing two group stage games (one minute against Turkey, full match against Portugal) in an eventual quarter final exit.

[3] Previously, Pavličić was a member of the highly talented Yugoslavia under-20 team that won the 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship in Chile, playing all the games in the tournament.