diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/66382-docker_container-port-range.yml b/changelogs/fragments/66382-docker_container-port-range.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..7e504aee5f9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/66382-docker_container-port-range.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+minor_changes:
+ - "docker_container - support for port ranges was adjusted to be more compatible to the ``docker`` command line utility:
+    a one-port container range combined with a multiple-port host range will no longer result in only the first host port be used, but the whole range being passed to Docker so that a free port in that range will be used."
diff --git a/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_2.10.rst b/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_2.10.rst
index 74a8aed46b9..331b97f52e0 100644
--- a/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_2.10.rst
+++ b/docs/docsite/rst/porting_guides/porting_guide_2.10.rst
@@ -109,6 +109,7 @@ Noteworthy module changes
     * Junction points are no longer reported as ``islnk``, use ``isjunction`` to properly report these files. This behaviour matches the :ref:`win_stat <win_stat_module>`
     * Directories no longer return a ``size``, this matches the ``stat`` and ``find`` behaviour and has been removed due to the difficulties in correctly reporting the size of a directory
 * :ref:`docker_container <docker_container_module>` no longer passes information on non-anonymous volumes or binds as ``Volumes`` to the Docker daemon. This increases compatibility with the ``docker`` CLI program. Note that if you specify ``volumes: strict`` in ``comparisons``, this could cause existing containers created with docker_container from Ansible 2.9 or earlier to restart.
+* :ref:`docker_container <docker_container_module>`'s support for port ranges was adjusted to be more compatible to the ``docker`` command line utility: a one-port container range combined with a multiple-port host range will no longer result in only the first host port be used, but the whole range being passed to Docker so that a free port in that range will be used.
 * :ref:`purefb_fs <purefb_fs_module>` no longer supports the deprecated ``nfs`` option. This has been superceeded by ``nfsv3``.
 
 Plugins
diff --git a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_container.py b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_container.py
index 2c8c7df85d5..53eb5131a1e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_container.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/modules/cloud/docker/docker_container.py
@@ -644,6 +644,9 @@ options:
         container port, 9000 is a host port, and 0.0.0.0 is a host interface."
       - Port ranges can be used for source and destination ports. If two ranges with
         different lengths are specified, the shorter range will be used.
+        Since Ansible 2.10, if the source port range has length 1, the port will not be assigned
+        to the first port of the destination range, but to a free port in that range. This is the
+        same behavior as for C(docker) command line utility.
       - "Bind addresses must be either IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. Hostnames are *not* allowed. This
         is different from the C(docker) command line utility. Use the L(dig lookup,../lookup/dig.html)
         to resolve hostnames."
@@ -886,8 +889,16 @@ EXAMPLES = '''
     devices:
      - "/dev/sda:/dev/xvda:rwm"
     ports:
+     # Publish container port 9000 as host port 8080
      - "8080:9000"
+     # Publish container UDP port 9001 as host port 8081 on interface 127.0.0.1
      - "127.0.0.1:8081:9001/udp"
+     # Publish container port 9002 as a random host port
+     - "9002"
+     # Publish container port 9003 as a random host port in range 8000-8100
+     - "9003:8000-8100"
+     # Publish container ports 9010-9020 to host ports 7000-7010
+     - "9010-9020:7000-7010"
     env:
         SECRET_KEY: "ssssh"
         # Values which might be parsed as numbers, booleans or other types by the YAML parser need to be quoted
@@ -1656,7 +1667,10 @@ class TaskParameters(DockerBaseClass):
             if p_len == 1:
                 port_binds = len(container_ports) * [(default_ip,)]
             elif p_len == 2:
-                port_binds = [(default_ip, port) for port in parse_port_range(parts[0], self.client)]
+                if len(container_ports) == 1:
+                    port_binds = [(default_ip, parts[0])]
+                else:
+                    port_binds = [(default_ip, port) for port in parse_port_range(parts[0], self.client)]
             elif p_len == 3:
                 # We only allow IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for the bind address
                 ipaddr = parts[0]
@@ -1666,7 +1680,10 @@ class TaskParameters(DockerBaseClass):
                 if re.match(r'^\[[0-9a-fA-F:]+\]$', ipaddr):
                     ipaddr = ipaddr[1:-1]
                 if parts[1]:
-                    port_binds = [(ipaddr, port) for port in parse_port_range(parts[1], self.client)]
+                    if len(container_ports) == 1:
+                        port_binds = [(ipaddr, parts[1])]
+                    else:
+                        port_binds = [(ipaddr, port) for port in parse_port_range(parts[1], self.client)]
                 else:
                     port_binds = len(container_ports) * [(ipaddr,)]
 
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml b/test/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
index 71014e11c3f..e60fb3245a6 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/docker_container/tasks/tests/ports.yml
@@ -2,6 +2,10 @@
 - name: Registering container name
   set_fact:
     cname: "{{ cname_prefix ~ '-options' }}"
+    cname2: "{{ cname_prefix ~ '-options-h1' }}"
+- name: Registering container name
+  set_fact:
+    cnames: "{{ cnames + [cname, cname2] }}"
 
 ####################################################################
 ## published_ports: all ############################################
@@ -156,6 +160,68 @@
     - published_ports_2 is not changed
     - published_ports_3 is changed
 
+####################################################################
+## published_ports: one-element container port range ###############
+####################################################################
+
+- name: published_ports -- one-element container port range
+  docker_container:
+    image: alpine:3.8
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ item }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+    - "9010-9050:9010"
+    force_kill: yes
+  loop:
+    - '{{ cname }}'
+    - '{{ cname2 }}'
+  register: published_ports_1
+
+- name: published_ports -- one-element container port range (idempotency)
+  docker_container:
+    image: alpine:3.8
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ item }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+    - "9010-9050:9010"
+    force_kill: yes
+  loop:
+    - '{{ cname }}'
+    - '{{ cname2 }}'
+  register: published_ports_2
+
+- name: published_ports -- one-element container port range (different range)
+  docker_container:
+    image: alpine:3.8
+    command: '/bin/sh -c "sleep 10m"'
+    name: "{{ item }}"
+    state: started
+    published_ports:
+    - "9010-9051:9010"
+    force_kill: yes
+  loop:
+    - '{{ cname }}'
+    - '{{ cname2 }}'
+  register: published_ports_3
+
+- name: cleanup
+  docker_container:
+    name: "{{ item }}"
+    state: absent
+    force_kill: yes
+  loop:
+    - '{{ cname }}'
+    - '{{ cname2 }}'
+  diff: no
+
+- assert:
+    that:
+    - published_ports_1 is changed
+    - published_ports_2 is not changed
+    - published_ports_3 is changed
+
 ####################################################################
 ## published_ports: IPv6 addresses #################################
 ####################################################################