Christian Chivu started his football career with hometown club CSM Resita. He left Resita to join fellow Romanian side FC Universitatea Craiova in 1998. Chivu left Romania for the first time when he signed for Dutch giants Ajax Amsterdam in 1999.
At Italian capital club Roma, Christian Chivuspent four years. He won the Coppa Italia in the final season of his time as a player for AS Roma. Chivu spent four seasons in Rome in the colours of AS Roma. Inter Milan made a big transfer coup with the signing of Christian Chivu from AS Roma in the summer of 2007. He was linked with a lot of clubs before Inter Milan won the race to sign him.
Christian Chivu spent seven years at Inter Milan before he retired at the end of his time at the club in 2014. While he was at Inter, he wore a protective headgear after recovering from a fractured skull thereby following in the footsteps of Chelsea legend Petr Cech. Christian Chivu wore protective headgear from 2010 onwards.
At Inter Milan, Chivu had his most successful season under the guidance of Jose Mourinho in 2010. He was a regular part of the Inter Milan starting XI as they won three major trophies under Mourinho during the 2009/10 season. The treble was complete when Inter Milan beat Bayern Munich 2-0 courtesy the brace from Argentine star Diego Milito.
On the international scene,Chivu played 75 times for Romania over an 11-year period. His last game for the Romania senior team was in 2010.