Cristan Panin was born on 9 June 1978 in Arad, Romania, beginning his senior career in 1997 at local club UTA in Liga II, helping the team promote to Liga I in the 2001–02 season, a competition in which he made his debut on 18 August 2002 under coach Ionuț Popa in a 2–1 loss against Național București.

[1][2][3][5] 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.

[1][6][7] He spent a total of nine seasons wearing the Railway Men's shirt and although numerous players, including Swedish international Mikael Dorsin, have attempted to replace him, he still remained a key player for the team, helping the club win another two titles in the 2009–10 and 2011–12 seasons, being used in 29 matches in the first one and in 21 in the second one, also helping the club win another two Cupa României and two Supercupa României.

[1][6][2][8] Panin made his last Liga I appearance on 26 May 2013 in a 3–3 against Astra Giurgiu, having a total of 217 games with 5 goals scored in the competition, also he played in 9 Champions League group stage matches, including CFR's historic 2–1 victory on Stadio Olimpico against AS Roma and appeared in 10 Europa League matches.

[1][2][9][10][11][12][13] Cristian 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 friendly against Georgia which ended with a 2–1 victory.