Cristian Panin

UTA Arad

Panin was born on 9 June 1978 in Arad, Romania. He began playing senior-level football in 1997 at local club UTA in Liga II. He helped them gain promotion to Liga I in the 2001–02 season. Subsequently, Panin made his debut in the competition on 18 August 2002 under coach Ionuț Popa in a 2–1 loss to Național București. The Old Lady finished the season in 16th place, being relegated back to the second league. He spent one more season, then left after coach Ilie Stan wanted to bring new players to the club.

CFR Cluj

During the summer of 2004, Panin moved to newly Liga I promoted team, CFR Cluj. Under coach Dorinel Munteanu, he played nine games in the 2005 Intertoto Cup campaign as CFR got past Vėtra, Athletic Bilbao, Saint-Étienne and Žalgiris, with the team reaching the final where they were defeated 4–2 on aggregate by Lens. In the 2007–08 season he helped CFR win The Double, these being the first trophies in the club's history, being used by coach Ioan Andone in 28 league matches in which he scored one goal. Andone also used him the entire match in the 2–1 win over Unirea Urziceni in the Cupa României final. Panin then played four games in the 2008–09 Champions League group stage with The Railway Men, including a historical 2–1 victory at Stadio Olimpico against AS Roma. In the same season he won another Cupa României, coach Toni Conceição using him the full 90 minutes in the 3–0 win over Politehnica Timișoara in the final. Panin started the…

Panin played two games for Romania, making his debut on 19 November 2008 when coach Victor Pițurcă introduced him in the 25th minute to replace George Ogăraru in a 2–1 friendly victory against Georgia. His second game was a 3–1 win over Faroe Islands in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

International

UTA Arad

Divizia B: 2001–02 CFR Cluj

Liga I: 2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12 Cupa României: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 Supercupa României: 2009, 2010 Intertoto Cup runner-up: 2005