diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/76-leading-v-support-in-docker-version.yml b/changelogs/fragments/76-leading-v-support-in-docker-version.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5ac004d3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/76-leading-v-support-in-docker-version.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - docker connection plugin - fix Docker version parsing, as some docker versions have a leading ``v`` in the output of the command ``docker version --format "{{.Server.Version}}"`` (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.docker/pull/76).
diff --git a/plugins/connection/docker.py b/plugins/connection/docker.py
index 5dcfe55f..71e00761 100644
--- a/plugins/connection/docker.py
+++ b/plugins/connection/docker.py
@@ -120,7 +120,9 @@ class Connection(ConnectionBase):
 
     @staticmethod
     def _sanitize_version(version):
-        return re.sub(u'[^0-9a-zA-Z.]', u'', version)
+        version = re.sub(u'[^0-9a-zA-Z.]', u'', version)
+        version = re.sub(u'^v', u'', version)
+        return version
 
     def _old_docker_version(self):
         cmd_args = []