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Pakistani professional footballer

Zeshan Rehman (; born 14 October 1983) Born in England, he represented the Pakistan national team. He was the first British Asian to start a Premier League match and is the first to have played in all four divisions of professional football in England. He also played for the Pakistan national football team and was the first Pakistani international footballer to play professional football in England, Thailand, Hong Kong and Malaysia. He started his career at Fulham and made a total of 30 appearances, having loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City. A transfer to Queens Park Rangers followed and he went on to make 50 appearances for the club. During his three years there he went on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion, Blackpool and Bradford City, moving permanently to the latter on a free transfer in June 2009. Having previously represented England at under 18, under 19 and under 20 levels, in 2005 he made his debut for Pakistan senior team.

Rehman was born on 14 October 1983 in Birmingham. As a child in Birmingham he played for his local Sunday league team, Kingshurst. and moved with his family to London where he joined the Fulham Academy. He progressed through the junior, youth and reserve teams at Fulham, which led him to sign his first professional contract. Although a centre back by trade, Rehman was used as a holding midfielder as well as right back in his career at Fulham.

In the 2003–04 season, Rehman made his professional debut on 23 September 2003 in a 1–0 defeat away to Wigan Athletic in the second round of the Football League Cup, coming on as a substitute for Junichi Inamoto after 57 minutes. He scored on his debut for the club on 30 September, concluding a 3–1 away win at Rushden & Diamonds. On 11 October, he opened a 3–0 win against Grimsby Town at the Withdean Stadium, finishing a corner by Leon Knight in Bob Booker's first match in charge. Rehman's loan was extended to three months ending in January 2004. He made eleven league appearances, scoring two goals. In doing so, he garnered media attention from British Asian groups by being the first British Asian player to play in the top division of English football.

On 21 September 2005 in the League Cup second round, Rehman scored his only goal for Fulham, opening a 5–4 extra time win over Lincoln City at Craven Cottage by heading in Heiðar Helguson's cross. In January 2006 he signed for Championship club Norwich City on loan for the rest of the season as defensive cover for the club. He made five starts for them. Having made 30 appearances in all competitions for Fulham, 26 from the starting line up and four as a substitute, Rehman had to consider his options if he was to get regular football. Although he had two years remaining on his contract, he wanted to play regular first team football, and as a result, he decided to spend the next two seasons getting as much experience as possible.

On 8 August 2006, just prior to the start of the 2006–07 season, Rehman signed for Championship club Queens Park Rangers (QPR) from Fulham on a three year contract for an undisclosed fee. In his first season at QPR, Rehman made 27 appearances. He made his debut on 24 March 2007 in a 0–0 draw against Huddersfield Town. He ended his loan stint by playing the full 90 minutes, and earning a yellow card in the process, for the final game of the League One season in a 1–1 draw at Cheltenham Town on 5 May 2007, claiming an assist for the opening goal. He featured in eight full games during his loan spell. Returning to QPR at the start of the new season, chances were limited. The 3–1 victory over Leicester City on New Years Day 2008 was Rehman's 50th game in all competitions since leaving Fulham in 2006. Rehman finished the 2007–08 season in the starting line for QPR against the Championship's new champions, West Bromwich Albion.

Rehman joined Blackpool in a six month loan deal on 31 July 2008, along with teammate Daniel Nardiello, who joined the club on a permanent basis, while Blackpool defender Kaspars Gorkšs moved to QPR in exchange. He made his debut for Blackpool as a second half substitute for Jermaine Wright in a 2–0 defeat at League Two club Macclesfield Town in the first round of the 2008–09 League Cup on 12 August 2008. He was used as an emergency striker due to injuries to three of the club's strikers. He made his league debut the following Saturday, in a 1–1 draw at Norwich City, coming on early in the second half to replace defender Danny Coid. Three months into his loan spell, in early October, Rehman said of his move to play for Blackpool: "I'm quite glad to get away from all the hustle and bustle of London. I really like it up here in Blackpool; it's a good club with an ambitious young manager. Hopefully, over the next few months I can convince Simon Grayson I'm worthy of a long term contract." Rehman had turned down a chance to move to Luton Town and team up with Mick Harford, who was previously the assistant manager at QPR, and said he was only prepared to drop down to League Two if he joined Bradford City. Rehman said of the move, "I was only prepared to drop down the leagues to play for this club. I spoke to the manager and chairmen and I know they want to get Bradford back up to where they belong. I've been involved in relegation battles in the past and it's nice to be joining a club pushing for promotion – that's a good pressure to have." He made his debut the following day in a 1–0 defeat to Bury at Gigg Lane, and in doing so became the first British Asian to play in all four divisions of professional football in England. He made his home debut on 31 January, playing at right back, in a 2–0 home win over Grimsby Town at Valley Parade. In March he turned down the chance to play for Pakistan in the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup qualifiers in order to help Bradford's push for promotion.

On 14 June 2017, Rehman announced via his Twitter page that he had signed with Southern, returning to Hong Kong for the first time since 2013. Rehman chose Southern ahead of several other offers from around the world, citing the lure of working with head coach Cheng Siu Chung as the main attraction. On 28 April 2020, Southern announced an agreement with Rehman to extend his contract.

On 16 May 2020, towards the end of the 2019 20 season when COVID started Rehman was named as a player manager for Southern, achieving his first coaching role since obtaining his UEFA Pro License. He spent two seasons prior to this operating as a development coach working closely with the club's emerging youth prospects that won the U18 League and FA Youth Cup. On 30 May 2021, Rehman completed his first full season as player head coach leading Southern to a 5th place mid table finish, a remarkable achievement in the duo role while operating on the lowest budget in the league, working with the youngest coaching team and himself being the youngest head coach in the Hong Kong Premier League. In January 2022, at the halfway point of the new season, Rehman guided Southern to the top of the league with the second highest number of goals scored, the best defensive record in the league, and the most clean sheets beating Asian Champions league side Kitchee and last years league runners up Eastern along the way. Southern was also in the top three of the Sapling Cup League. In May 2022 Rehman announced his retirement, and called time on a 21 year playing career which spanned two decades across several countries. He described his time as an amazing experience both on and off the pitch.

Having finished his playing career, in June 2022 Rehman took a role with Portsmouth FC as U18 Coach. In January 2023, after the dismissal of Danny Cowley and Nicky Cowley as head coach and assistant head coach, Rehman became interim first team assistant manager. Rehman remained in the interim assistant head coach role after the appointment of John Mousinho as the new head coach. The pairs first game in charge resulted in a 2 0 home win against visitors Exeter City on Saturday 21 January 2023, their first EFL League One home win since 3 September 2022. Three days later on 24 January 2023, Portsmouth travelled to Fleetwood Town and defeated them 0 2, their first EFL League One away win since 22 October 2022. On March 23, 2023 Rehman was announced as the First Team Development Coach. During the season, Rehman became the first British Pakistani former player to be working as a coach within a first team set up across the English professional leagues.

Rehman originally represented England, and played for them at under 18, under 19 and under 20 levels. Becoming the first English born Pakistani to don an England senior football shirt seemed too far away, however, due to lack of first team opportunities at Fulham. Due to his Pakistani parentage, and because he possessed dual Pakistani and British nationality, Rehman also qualified to represent Pakistan, and he eventually opted to play for them, as he considered it to be a more realistic option. A lot of British Asian groups were against this and wanted him to fight more for an England place to set a standard for English Asian youth. Pakistan ultimately reached the semi finals before losing out to Bangladesh 1–0. Rehman was named in the Pakistan squad for the 2010 World Cup qualifying matches against Iraq in October 2007, and played the match in Lahore but could not help contain Asian champions Iraq from winning 7–0. In the second leg on 28 October he captained Pakistan to a 0–0 draw. After nearly four years out, Rehman returned to the Pakistan team for the 2012 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers.

In September 2013 Rehman represented Pakistan at the SAFF Championship which was held in Nepal. He played all of the games for Pakistan who narrowly missed out on a semi final spot despite beating Bangladesh in the last group game. His commanding displays during the tournament earned him a place in the Team of the Tournament. In October 2013, Rehman captained Pakistan in both of their games at The Peace Cup held in the Philippines, and scored the winning goal in the opener against Chinese Taipei. In September 2018 played in his final SAFF Tournament for Pakistan in Bangladesh since his first game in the competition some 13 years earlier. He played all of the games helping the team progress to the semi final stage of the competition against rivals India. In June 2019 Zesh Captained the team for the 2022 Asian World Cup Qualifiers against Cambodia over two legs. Pakistan fell short of a place in the group stage of the competition with consecutive defeats in Phnom Penh and in Doha, this was his final game in an international shirt.

Rehman caused controversy in 2007 when in an interview with the British weekly newspaper the Eastern Eye he said that players of Asian descent should consider sticking to their roots rather than dreaming of playing for England. Rehman pointed to Michael Chopra and David Nugent, who both were top scorers in the Championship, but Nugent was called up for England while Chopra was not.

Rehman has said that, his "sole purpose in trying to be a success as a professional footballer is to inspire other Asian players to follow my lead and achieve their goals." He is an ambassador for the Asian Football Network (AFN), a grassroots community led initiative designed to support and facilitate the development of grassroots Asian football in the UK. He has also worked with the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) to try to increase the number of British Asians taking up a career in professional football, and has attended meetings with the PFA in order to achieve this goal. He has also been involved in the Show Racism the Red Card campaign and he has taken part in Chelsea's "Search for an Asian Star" campaign. In April 2008, Rehman appeared on the United States based Afghan satellite television network Noor TV and Bangladesh based Islamic TV discussing being a Muslim footballer and how it is possible to pursue a career in football while sticking to Islamic roots. On 20 April 2008, he was a guest on the BBC Asian Network radio station show Breakdown revealing his favourite Desi music tunes. In May 2008, Rehman was awarded the Community Commitment Award at QPR. In April 2008, Rehman took part in a radio documentary on BBC Radio 1Xtra about British Asians in football which followed his "journey from playground to Premier League". He was named as one of the 50 World Cup Bid Ambassadors for The FA's World Cup 2018 bid, entered the Show Racism Red Card Hall of Fame, and was invited onto the PFA management committee by Gordon Taylor. In 2014, he was named as on the special South East Asia contributor for the ESPN South East Asia section by writing blogs and columns about football in the rapidly growing football region of Asia. Rehman wrote his second blog for the ESPN South East Asia section a few days after his side recorded victory in the Malaysia Cup quarter finals.

''Scores and results are list Pakistan's goal tally first. No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 13 October 2013 Panaad Stadium, Bacolod, Philippines 1–0 1–0 2013 Philippine Peace Cup