He played professionally in three countries his own notwithstanding, mainly Spain where he appeared for Alavés, Atlético Madrid and Getafe, amassing La Liga totals of 188 games and eight goals.

[12] Contra signed for West Bromwich Albion on loan in August 2004,[13] making his debut in a 2–1 defeat at Colchester United in the second round of the Football League Cup on 21 September.

[16] He then returned to his country and Liga I, at the club which brought him up as a player, Politehnica Timișoara, where he managed to be recalled to the national side due to his performances.

[5] Contra returned to Spain in August 2005, agreeing to a season-long loan with Getafe[17] which was subsequently made permanent (he was supposed to have arrived at the Coliseum Alfonso Pérez before, but the move was blocked because the squad had too many non-EU players, and his compatriot Gheorghe Craioveanu only ceased to be considered a foreigner the same year).

[5] In the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, Contra netted in both legs of the quarter-final tie against Bayern Munich, which ended in a 4–4 aggregate elimination after extra time.

[21] In late January 2010, after being ousted from the starting XI by manager Míchel, Contra left Getafe and returned to his country, rejoining hometown's Politehnica Timișoara initially until June.

[2][4] Contra earned 73 caps for Romania and scored seven goals, making his debut on 24 April 1996 at the age of 20 when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him on the field in the 65th minute in order to replace captain Gheorghe Hagi in a friendly against Georgia which ended with a 5–0 victory.

[4][28] He made nine appearances and netted twice in the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying phase, one in a 2–0 away victory over Georgia and one in the second leg of the play-off against Slovenia which was lost 3–2 on aggregate.

[28][31] He contributed six matches and two goals, one in a 3–0 victory against Luxembourg and one in the 2–0 defeat of Slovenia in qualification for Euro 2008, being used in the final tournament by manager Victor Pițurcă in all the minutes as his side failed to progress from their group.

[35] He started the campaign well and, after ten rounds, the team found themselves in a play-off position; however, after an offer from FC Petrolul Ploiești in his homeland arrived, he asked to be released from his contract.

[38] Petrolul managed to knock out Víkingur Gøta in the Europa League second qualifying round and Vitesse Arnhem in the third, but were eliminated in the play-offs by Swansea City after being bested 5–1 in Wales and winning 2–1 at home.

[39] On 10 March 2014, Contra returned to Getafe and the Spanish top flight after four years, replacing Luis García who was fired after a long run of bad results which led the team to only a point above the relegation zone, and without a league win since November.

[53] In November 2019, after the team could only finish in fourth place in the Euro 2020 qualifying phase behind Spain, Sweden and Norway, the Romanian Football Federation announced Contra would no longer continue on the bench.