diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/change-default-collation-260d932780ef4553.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/change-default-collation-260d932780ef4553.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..088135c2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/change-default-collation-260d932780ef4553.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+upgrade:
+  - The default database collation has changed from
+    `utf8_unicode_ci` to `utf8_general_ci`. Existing
+    databases and tables will need to be converted.
diff --git a/templates/my.cnf.j2 b/templates/my.cnf.j2
index 3562d41b..f4be79fc 100644
--- a/templates/my.cnf.j2
+++ b/templates/my.cnf.j2
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ default-character-set = utf8
 
 [mysqld]
 user = mysql
-collation-server = utf8_unicode_ci
+collation-server = utf8_general_ci
 init-connect = 'SET NAMES utf8'
 character-set-server = utf8
 datadir = /var/lib/mysql