diff --git a/src/log_mysql.c b/src/log_mysql.c
index 2ce748a..f812a4d 100644
--- a/src/log_mysql.c
+++ b/src/log_mysql.c
@@ -226,6 +226,13 @@ static int pw_mysql_connect(MYSQL ** const id_sql_server)
     }
     server_down = 0;
 
+    if (mysql_set_character_set(*id_sql_server, "utf8"))
+    {
+                       logfile(LOG_ERR, MSG_SQL_FAILED_CHSET_UTF8,
+                               mysql_error(*id_sql_server),
+                               mysql_character_set_name(*id_sql_server));
+    }
+
     return 0;
 }
 
diff --git a/src/messages_en.h b/src/messages_en.h
index 90999bb..201957a 100644
--- a/src/messages_en.h
+++ b/src/messages_en.h
@@ -200,6 +200,8 @@
 #define MSG_UNKNOWN_ALTLOG "Unknown logging format"
 #define MSG_ACCOUNT_DISABLED "Can't login as [%s]: account disabled"
 #define MSG_SQL_WRONG_PARMS "Wrong SQL parameters"
+#define MSG_SQL_FAILED_CHSET_UTF8 "Failed to set character set for database to utf8: %s \n" \
+    "(using old character set: %s)"
 #define MSG_ILLEGAL_CONFIG_FILE_SQL "Invalid SQL configuration file"
 #define MSG_SQL_MISSING_SERVER "Missing server in the SQL configuration file"
 #define MSG_SQL_DOWN "The SQL server seems to be down"