diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-test-no-tests.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-test-no-tests.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..8508ce29152
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-test-no-tests.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - ansible-test no longer fails when downloading test results for a collection without a ``tests`` directory when using the ``--docker`` option.
diff --git a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/delegation.py b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/delegation.py
index d66b0d10b96..6cae52f651e 100644
--- a/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/delegation.py
+++ b/test/lib/ansible_test/_internal/delegation.py
@@ -9,6 +9,10 @@ import tempfile
 
 from . import types as t
 
+from .io import (
+    make_dirs,
+)
+
 from .executor import (
     SUPPORTED_PYTHON_VERSIONS,
     HTTPTESTER_HOSTS,
@@ -363,6 +367,8 @@ def delegate_docker(args, exclude, require, integration_targets):
                 remote_results_name = os.path.basename(remote_results_root)
                 remote_temp_file = os.path.join('/root', remote_results_name + '.tgz')
 
+                make_dirs(local_test_root)  # make sure directory exists for collections which have no tests
+
                 with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(prefix='ansible-result-', suffix='.tgz') as local_result_fd:
                     docker_exec(args, test_id, ['tar', 'czf', remote_temp_file, '--exclude', ResultType.TMP.name, '-C', remote_test_root, remote_results_name])
                     docker_get(args, test_id, remote_temp_file, local_result_fd.name)