In May, the England coach compiled a list of the ancestry of his squad beyond the channel.
"I will not forget when I woke up at five in the morning and helping my mother clean toilets," Raheem Sterling told The Players' Tribune. "She came to this country with nothing and now is the director of an asylum.
"And her naughty son plays for England. It's a place where dreams come true."
The Manchester City winger was born in Kingston and his mother took him from Jamaica to England when he was only five years old in the hope of a better future; he is the only member of the 23-man squad who was not born on English shores.
However, his adventure resembles that of so many direct relatives of those mentioned by Southgate who emigrated to the island.
"I coach a team of different backgrounds and religions," Southgate told TalkSport when he coached the Under-21s.
"[Wilfried] Zaha was born in the Ivory Coast, [Saido] Berahino in Burundi... Diversity unites us. There is something generational in Brexit. It is a strength that our team is so heterogeneous."
In the squad are also English players who have experienced years abroad early in their life, such as Tottenham midfielder Eric Dier who was born in England but grew up in Portugal.
"When I was young, the Portuguese federation spoke to Sporting CP but it was no more," said Dier. "I am 100 per cent English."
The different origins in the squad is leading to collective success.
The parents of Danny Welbeck arrived in Manchester from Ghana, Danny Rose and Ashley Young have Jamaican blood, while Fabian Delph and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are of Guyanese origin.
Manchester United duo Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford are of descent from the Caribbean islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis respectively, while Dele Alli's father is from Nigeria and Trent Alexander-Arnold could have played for the United States.
All were born in England but they carry DNA from other countries, particularly those in the Commonwealth. Even the father of Harry Kane, England's captain and top scorer, is Irish.
