[5] Rehman started his career at Fulham and made a total of 30 appearances, having loan spells at Brighton & Hove Albion and Norwich City.

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.

[11] 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.

[14] 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.

[6] He made his Premier League debut for Fulham in a goalless draw at Anfield against Liverpool on 17 April 2004, replacing Bobby Petta for the final minute of the match.

[18] 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.

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.

[22] 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.

[11] Towards the end of the season Rehman was sent on loan to former club Brighton & Hove Albion for a month where he gained more first team football experience.

[25] 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.

[30] 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.

[31] 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.

[33] 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.

"[35] 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.

[37] 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.

[46] Struggling to get playing time, making only 12 appearances, Rehman in an interview to BBC Radio said that he was not pleased to sit in the substitute bench in the past few matches.

[3] Rehman won his first piece of silverware of his Hong Kong career by playing a leading role in Kitchees 2–1 League Cup win over cloes rivals TSW Pegasus at the Mong Kok Stadium on 15 April 2012.

[59][60] Rehman made it into the Hong Kong BMA First Division League team of the season at The HKFA Annual Awards dinner.

[65] On 26 May 2013 Rehman helped Kitchee beat Tuen Mun 3–0 in the final of the play-off to ensure his teams passage into the AFC Cup 2014.

On 28 June 2016, Zesh announce via his social media accounts he had amicably agreed to terminate with Pahang FC after a successful 3-year spell at the club.

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.

[74] 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.

[84] 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.

[91] 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.

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.

[97] 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.

On 20 April 2008, he was a guest on the BBC Asian Network radio station show Breakdown revealing his favourite Desi music tunes.

[25] 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.

[105][106] 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.