diff --git a/provider/zonefinder.go b/provider/zonefinder.go
index 18396000b..6a07646c1 100644
--- a/provider/zonefinder.go
+++ b/provider/zonefinder.go
@@ -16,7 +16,12 @@ limitations under the License.
 
 package provider
 
-import "strings"
+import (
+	"strings"
+
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"golang.org/x/net/idna"
+)
 
 type ZoneIDName map[string]string
 
@@ -25,8 +30,13 @@ func (z ZoneIDName) Add(zoneID, zoneName string) {
 }
 
 func (z ZoneIDName) FindZone(hostname string) (suitableZoneID, suitableZoneName string) {
+	name, err := idna.Lookup.ToUnicode(hostname)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Warnf("Failed to convert hostname '%s' to its Unicode form: %v", hostname, err)
+		name = hostname
+	}
 	for zoneID, zoneName := range z {
-		if hostname == zoneName || strings.HasSuffix(hostname, "."+zoneName) {
+		if name == zoneName || strings.HasSuffix(name, "."+zoneName) {
 			if suitableZoneName == "" || len(zoneName) > len(suitableZoneName) {
 				suitableZoneID = zoneID
 				suitableZoneName = zoneName
diff --git a/provider/zonefinder_test.go b/provider/zonefinder_test.go
index 592ef65fb..0037edadd 100644
--- a/provider/zonefinder_test.go
+++ b/provider/zonefinder_test.go
@@ -19,7 +19,9 @@ package provider
 import (
 	"testing"
 
+	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/external-dns/internal/testutils"
 )
 
 func TestZoneIDName(t *testing.T) {
@@ -27,10 +29,12 @@ func TestZoneIDName(t *testing.T) {
 	z.Add("123456", "foo.bar")
 	z.Add("123456", "qux.baz")
 	z.Add("654321", "foo.qux.baz")
+	z.Add("987654", "エイミー.みんな")
 
 	assert.Equal(t, ZoneIDName{
 		"123456": "qux.baz",
 		"654321": "foo.qux.baz",
+		"987654": "エイミー.みんな",
 	}, z)
 
 	// simple entry in a domain
@@ -62,4 +66,13 @@ func TestZoneIDName(t *testing.T) {
 	zoneID, zoneName = z.FindZone("foo.qux.baz")
 	assert.Equal(t, "foo.qux.baz", zoneName)
 	assert.Equal(t, "654321", zoneID)
+
+	// entry gets normalized before finding
+	zoneID, zoneName = z.FindZone("xn--eckh0ome.xn--q9jyb4c")
+	assert.Equal(t, "エイミー.みんな", zoneName)
+	assert.Equal(t, "987654", zoneID)
+
+	b := testutils.LogsToBuffer(log.WarnLevel, t)
+	zoneID, zoneName = z.FindZone("???")
+	assert.Contains(t, b.String(), "level=warning msg=\"Failed to convert hostname '???' to its Unicode form: idna: disallowed rune U+003F\"")
 }