Ghionea made his debut as a player for Dunărea Galaţi during the 1997–98 season and helped his team avoid relegation in Liga III.

He became close to Dorin Goian a basic player for Steaua București especially after he took Mirel Rădoi's place in the central defense after he was injured for a couple of time.

Steaua passed from a group with Standard Liège, Sampdoria, Besiktas Istanbul and Athletic Bilbao and also eliminated after this the ex-winner of UEFA Cup, Valencia.

The next season in UEFA Cup was even better because Steaua played in the semi-finals after defeated teams like Lens, Heerenveen, Real Betis and in the quarter-finals Rapid București, one of their traditional Romanian rivals.

After a corner kick served by Vasilică Cristocea, Ghionea placed a header on the right post and in the back of the net.

After 4 months from the injury, Ghionea started his training on the pitch, closely supervised by medic Radu Paligora.

Even though it was said that Ghionea would not miss the start of Liga I 2007–08 season on 28 July, his knee was not fully recovered and he did not play in any match for Steaua.

On 10 July 2008, Steaua București rejected a €1.5m bid from Serie A side Catania but Ghionea decided to remain at the club for the foreseeable future.

[3] Ghionea made his home debut for Politehnica Timișoara in 3–1 win against Gaz Metan Mediaş on 26 February 2011.