Bradford City completed the permanent transfer of central defender Zesh Rehman in June 2009.

Rehman had been on loan at the Coral Windows Stadium from Queens Park Rangers since January of the same year.

The giant defender was born in the Aston area of Birmingham, but moved to London with his family at an early age.

As a young boy, Rehman was spotted by a Fulham scout and joined their Academy at the age of 12.

He worked his way through their junior, youth and reserve ranks at Craven Cottage, before making his Premier League debut against Liverpool in 2004.

Rehman's first senior appearance at Anfield was greeted by great media interest from several quarters as he was the first British Asian to play in the English Premiership.

During his time at Fulham, Rehman spent two periods on loan away from the club, once at Brighton & Hove Albion and once at Norwich City.

After making 30 appearances with Fulham during his two years at the club, Rehman decided to seek out a more regular source of first team football

In August 2006, Rehman moved across London to join Championship side Queen Park Rangers for an undisclosed fee.

After making 27 appearances in his first season at Loftus Road, Rehman returned for a second short loan spell at Brighton & Hove Albion in 2007.

Rehman returned to London in the summer and remained QPR for the following season.

At the start of the 2008/2009 season, the defender headed north to join Blackpool on a six month loan deal, as part of the transfer that involved fellow defender Kasper Gorkss moving in the opposite direction.

Rehman only returned to London for a short period before he returned north to sign for the Bantams, initially on loan until the end of the season in January 2009.

He made his first appearance for the club at Bury's Gigg Lane, deputising at left back for Luke O'Brien who was suffering from illness.

Upon making his debut for the Bantams, Rehman became the first British Asian player to play in all four professional divisions in England.

After impressing Bantams manager Stuart McCall during his loan period, Rehman's deal at the club was made permanent during the summer of 2009.

Having represented England at under 18's, under 19's  and under 20's level, Rehman realised that he would struggle to claim international football at senior level with England.

Due to this observation, Rehman eventually opted to play for Pakistan, who he qualified for under his Pakistani parentage.

With the blessing of family members, Rehman made his international debut for Pakistan against Sri Lanka in 2005. Rehman currently holds six senior caps for Pakistan.

As part of his community work, Rehman is an ambassador for the AFN (Asian Football Network) as well as taking part in several Anti-Racism projects. The giant defender is also fluent in Punjabi & Urdu.

On the eve of the 2009/10 campaign, Peter Thorne was handed the skipper's armband by McCall, with Rehman being named as club captain.

Thorne has so far struggled to lead out his team-mates on many occasions as his early season has been blighted with injury. Rehman has therefore taken over captaincy duties for most of the season.

Rehman scored his one and so far only goal for Bradford eight months after originally arriving on loan at City, when he fired past Barnet's Jake Cole during the Bantams 2-2 draw at Underhill in September.

He was named the PFA's "Player of the Community" at the Football League Awards 2010 on Sunday 14 March 2010.

Towards the end of the 2009/10 season, Rehman officially launched his foundation to help children improve themselves through sport.