Zesh Rehman - Personal Life

Personal Life

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. In January 2007 he took part in the London 'One Game' initiative held at The FA headquarters in Soho Square, London. 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. On 12 July 2008, he took part in the Islam Expo event at the Olympia exhibition centre in West Kensington, London, a four day event whose primary purpose was to build bridges between Britain's Muslim communities and the rest of society. Rehman took part in a panel giving feedback from his own experiences about the positive use of sport.

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".

In May 2010, he launched The Zesh Rehman Foundation at Valley Parade to encourage children from all backgrounds to participate in football and sport to better themselves. 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 September 2011, he launched his iPhone application aimed at helping players who move overseas with the language barrier.

He lists snooker, cinema and socialising as hobbies. He is also fluent in Punjabi and Urdu as well as English. He has a brother, called Rizwan, who played for Brentford, but was forced to retire early due to an injury.