diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/66617-version-unicode-fix.yml b/changelogs/fragments/66617-version-unicode-fix.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8e3fc51d311
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/66617-version-unicode-fix.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - Ensure that ``--version`` works with non-ascii ansible project paths (https://github.com/ansible/ansible/issues/66617)
diff --git a/lib/ansible/config/manager.py b/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
index 7bff979d651..18d2d11c955 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/config/manager.py
@@ -231,7 +231,7 @@ def find_ini_config_file(warnings=None):
             if os.path.exists(cwd_cfg):
                 warn_cmd_public = True
         else:
-            potential_paths.append(cwd_cfg)
+            potential_paths.append(to_text(cwd_cfg, errors='surrogate_or_strict'))
     except OSError:
         # If we can't access cwd, we'll simply skip it as a possible config source
         pass
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/unicode/křížek-ansible-project/ansible.cfg b/test/integration/targets/unicode/křížek-ansible-project/ansible.cfg
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6775889f1b0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/integration/targets/unicode/křížek-ansible-project/ansible.cfg
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+[defaults]
+library=~/.ansible/plugins/modules:/usr/share/ansible/plugins/modules:.
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/unicode/runme.sh b/test/integration/targets/unicode/runme.sh
index f95061dbce8..aa14783bc8f 100755
--- a/test/integration/targets/unicode/runme.sh
+++ b/test/integration/targets/unicode/runme.sh
@@ -5,3 +5,9 @@ set -eux
 ansible-playbook unicode.yml -i inventory -v -e 'extra_var=café' "$@"
 # Test the start-at-task flag #9571
 ANSIBLE_HOST_PATTERN_MISMATCH=warning ansible-playbook unicode.yml -i inventory -v --start-at-task '*¶' -e 'start_at_task=True' "$@"
+
+# Test --version works with non-ascii ansible project paths #66617
+# Unset these so values from the project dir are used
+unset ANSIBLE_CONFIG
+unset ANSIBLE_LIBRARY
+pushd křížek-ansible-project && ansible --version; popd