After three years there he moved to Krylia Sovetov, a club in the Soviet Top League.

Four seasons and three years later, in 1979 he moved back to Belarusian SSR to play for their best team in the Soviet Top League, Dinamo Minsk.

During the 1990s he coached Tavriya Simferopol, Krystal Kherson, Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.

While coach of Dnipro he was brought on to be the caretaker head-coach of the Ukraine national football team.

In the 1995–96 season Pavlov was coach of Dynamo Kyiv, leading them to a Ukrainian League title.