The team has become a symbol of a diverse, multicultural nation, showcasing an Englishness that many are excited by.
“My teenage self would have been surprised if you’d said we’d get our inclusive national identity from football,” said Sunder Katwala, director of think tank British Future. But this team, he said, was providing a “positive vision of a modern, shared English identity.”
In England’s semifinal against Denmark, seven of its starters were born abroad or had a parent or grandparent who was born overseas, according to the Migration Museum in London.
Some of England’s players — such as Marcus Rashford, whose grandmother is from the West Indies island of Saint Kitts — have moved into the social justice sphere by campaigning for free meals for schoolchildren during the holidays.