The England camp revealed Sterling would not play in Sunday night's match via a tweet just an hour and a half prior to the World Cup knockout fixture.
No more information was given as to what the family matter entails or whether the winger will be returning to the squad.
However, there are no suggestions that the 27-year-old has left the squad indefinitely.
England have already been hit by one squad member being forced to leave the camp in Qatar early, with Arsenal defender Ben White already heading home during the group stages due to an undisclosed medical issue.
Sterling may have been in contention in some form for the match against Senegal, although most likely from the bench, with Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden getting the nod to start from Gareth Southgate.
