Goian was noticed by the officials of Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ, a midtable team from the Romanian First Division, and he was transferred there in the middle of the 2002–03 season.

He soon became a top scorer for Steaua in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup season after scoring against RC Lens, Halmstads BK, and also SC Heerenveen.

In the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League season, Steaua played against Zagłębie Lubin and BATE Borisov in order to qualify in the group stage.

Although Petre Marin was the oldest player of the team, coach Marius Lacatus considered that Goian would make a better captain.

In his first season at the club, Goian was mostly used as a covering replacement for defensive regulars Simon Kjær and Cesare Bovo.

Following Kjær's departure to Steve McClaren's VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, Goian was originally expected to achieve considerably more first team opportunities; however, he sustained a number of injuries which prevented him from doing so.

On 25 July, Palermo agreed an undisclosed fee with Scottish Champions Rangers regarding Goian, who subsequently signed a three-year contract.

[11] He was due to play his first European Champions League Qualifier for Rangers on 4 August 2011 after successfully appealing to UEFA who earlier deemed him ineligible.

Goian formed a strong partnership with Carlos Bocanegra who also signed for the SPL Champions in the same transfer window and the pair cemented their places in the side as first choice centre backs.

[13] After Rangers FC went into administration in June 2012, the companies' assets were purchased by Charles Green's consortium including the players' contracts.

After insisting he would stay no matter what, when news broke that Rangers were set to play in the Third Division, Goian had a change of heart.

[24] After serving his four match ban and on 23 December 2012, Goian scored his first goal for the club with a header, as Spezia lose 3–2 against Padova.

[27] After his release from Rangers, Scottish reports claims that Goian was close to joining Greek Super League side Asteras Tripoli.

On 9 June 2008, Goian made his Euro 2008 entrance against the World Cup 2006 finalist France in a Group C match in Zürich, Switzerland.

He managed to stop strikers Nicolas Anelka and Karim Benzema, helping Romania win their first point with a goalless draw against France and also gaining his 20th cap.

Dorin's brothers Gigi, Liviu and Lucian were also professional footballers, all of them having played in the Romanian top-division Liga I.