diff --git a/ansible/roles/mariadb/templates/galera.cnf.j2 b/ansible/roles/mariadb/templates/galera.cnf.j2
index 3dcb5f8670..3d7eb938e0 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/mariadb/templates/galera.cnf.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/mariadb/templates/galera.cnf.j2
@@ -4,6 +4,12 @@
 {#- mariadb will fail to start #}
 {%- set wsrep_driver = 'none' if orchestration_engine == 'KUBERNETES' else wsrep_driver %}
 
+[client]
+default-character-set=utf8
+
+[mysql]
+default-character-set=utf8
+
 [mysqld]
 bind-address={{ api_interface_address }}
 port={{ mariadb_port }}
@@ -14,6 +20,10 @@ binlog_format=ROW
 default-storage-engine=innodb
 innodb_autoinc_lock_mode=2
 
+collation-server = utf8_unicode_ci
+init-connect='SET NAMES utf8'
+character-set-server = utf8
+
 datadir=/var/lib/mysql/
 
 wsrep_cluster_address=gcomm://{% if (groups['mariadb'] | length) > 1 %}{% for host in groups['mariadb'] %}{{ hostvars[host]['ansible_' + hostvars[host]['api_interface']]['ipv4']['address'] }}:{{ mariadb_wsrep_port }}{% if not loop.last %},{% endif %}{% endfor %}{% endif %}