As a player, Petrescu was deployed as a full-back or a winger and began his career at Steaua București, with which he played in the 1989 European Cup final.

Abroad, he represented Serie A clubs Foggia and Genoa, before moving to the Premier League where he played for Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea, Bradford City, and Southampton, respectively.

Petrescu has won domestic honours with Unirea Urziceni, Kuban Krasnodar, ASA Târgu Mureș, Jiangsu Suning, and CFR Cluj.

After falling out with Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli after a defeat to Manchester United (a game in which he scored),[5] Petrescu never played for the club again and was not even selected as a substitute for the 2000 FA Cup final against Aston Villa.

[6] In January 2001, Petrescu's former Chelsea manager, Glenn Hoddle, eventually persuaded him to join Southampton for a "nominal" fee.

They were then handed a difficult game against Argentina which they managed to win, only to lose to Sweden on penalties in the quarter-finals, with Petrescu one of two Romanians to miss his spot-kick.

At the 1998 World Cup in France, Petrescu raced past his Chelsea teammate Graeme Le Saux and scored the winning goal against England, which effectively won them the group and ensured they would not have to face Argentina in the second round.

He began his managerial career in July 2003 with second division side Sportul Studențesc, whom he led to promotion before taking over at Rapid Bucharest in December, but stepped down in April 2004, after only six games and four months at the helm.

[13] About one week after his termination, Petrescu was appointed as manager of Romanian Liga I newly promoted club Unirea Urziceni, with which he had considerable leading.

He was considered for the vacant manager's position at his former club Steaua București after Marius Lăcătuș' resignation in October 2008.

Shortly after his resignation, in August 2012 Petrescu signed a three-year contract reportedly worth €2.5 million per year to join Dynamo Moscow.

[18] Dynamo Moscow director of sports Guram Adzhoyev stated, "Last year Dan drew the team from the complicated situation, lifted it to the certain level, but recently we have seen no progress.

[26] On 14 June 2016, Petrescu signed a two-year contract with Kuban Krasnodar, after the club was relegated to the second-tier Russian National Football League.

[28] On 29 October 2016, Petrescu was announced as the manager of Emirates Arabian Gulf League side Al-Nasr until the end of the season.

[32] On 22 March 2019, Petrescu returned as manager of CFR Cluj after the club had experienced a string of poor performances in the league.

In the group stages, he faced Italian giants SS Lazio, Stade Rennais and meeting Celtic once again, proving to be an almost impossible challenge for CFR.

On 19 August 2020, CFR restarted the European campaign against Maltese champions Floriana FC with a 2–0 victory but were eliminated in the second round by Dinamo Zagreb on penalties.

After CFR was eliminated from the Europa League, and had begun to faltering domestically, Petrescu announced on 30 November that he and the club had agreed to terminate his contract.

[36] On 15 April 2024, Petrescu agreed to return to CFR Cluj on a three-year contract,[37] with an effective start in the summer of 2024, citing desire to rest after his spell in South Korea.

However, on 30 April, Petrescu announced his decision to cancel his break, and took charge of the club for the fourth time, replacing interim manager Ovidiu Hoban.

Unirea Urziceni[78] Kuban Krasnodar[78] ASA Târgu Mureș[21] Jiangsu Suning[78] CFR Cluj[79] Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Individual