Ivan Pavlic

Ivan Pavlić was born in Rotterdam and holds Dutch nationality, though of Serbian descent, and he has said he intends to represent Serbia at international level rather than the Netherlands. His path to professional football began not on a first team but in Rotterdam's junior sides, Excelsior Rotterdam/Smitshoek and Spartaan'20, before Royal Antwerp brought him into their academy, where he spent five years without making a senior breakthrough at the Belgian club.

His senior career actually took shape in Portugal. At Académica de Coimbra he made only a handful of appearances in the second tier, and the pattern of limited game time continued at Estoril Praia, where he first had to work through the under-23 side. There, at least, he found form: he was part of a title-winning under-23 squad and scored 12 goals before earning a run of senior appearances in the Primeira Liga. That spell ended when his contract was cancelled by mutual agreement, and a subsequent free transfer to Portimonense brought no competitive minutes at all.

The turning point came at Paços de Ferreira, where in the 2024–25 season he finally became a fixture in midfield. That run of consistent football preceded his move to Union Saint-Gilloise. In Belgium he has already added a domestic honour, winning the Belgian Cup with the club, and has gradually accumulated league appearances since. He has yet to win a senior international cap for any nation.