diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilder.php
index 0fd1f2f44c364..7bc43f28223fa 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilder.php
@@ -160,4 +160,14 @@ public function withCdataWrappingPattern(?string $cdataWrappingPattern): static
     {
         return $this->with(XmlEncoder::CDATA_WRAPPING_PATTERN, $cdataWrappingPattern);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Configures whether to force the output of a tag to be treated as an array.
+     *
+     * @param list<string>|null $forceCollection
+     */
+    public function withForceCollection(?array $forceCollection): static
+    {
+        return $this->with(XmlEncoder::FORCE_COLLECTION, $forceCollection);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index e1a816380a7b6..3a6c2d5b1d99c 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -31,6 +31,11 @@ class XmlEncoder implements EncoderInterface, DecoderInterface, NormalizationAwa
 
     public const AS_COLLECTION = 'as_collection';
 
+    /**
+     * An array of XML tags who should always be treated as a collection, even when it has only one child.
+     */
+    public const FORCE_COLLECTION = 'force_collection';
+
     /**
      * An array of ignored XML node types while decoding, each one of the DOM Predefined XML_* constants.
      */
@@ -72,6 +77,7 @@ class XmlEncoder implements EncoderInterface, DecoderInterface, NormalizationAwa
         self::TYPE_CAST_ATTRIBUTES => true,
         self::CDATA_WRAPPING => true,
         self::CDATA_WRAPPING_PATTERN => '/[<>&]/',
+        self::FORCE_COLLECTION => [],
     ];
 
     public function __construct(array $defaultContext = [])
@@ -224,10 +230,20 @@ final protected function isElementNameValid(string $name): bool
      */
     private function parseXml(\DOMNode $node, array $context = []): array|string
     {
+        $nodeName = $node->nodeName;
+
         $data = $this->parseXmlAttributes($node, $context);
 
         $value = $this->parseXmlValue($node, $context);
 
+        if (\is_array($value)
+            && ($childNodeName = $node->firstChild?->nodeName)
+            && 1 === \count($value)
+            && \in_array($nodeName, $context[self::FORCE_COLLECTION] ?? $this->defaultContext[self::FORCE_COLLECTION], true)
+        ) {
+            return [$childNodeName => [$value[$childNodeName]]];
+        }
+
         if (!\count($data)) {
             return $value;
         }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilderTest.php
index 2f71c6012b222..52a3cb563284a 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Context/Encoder/XmlEncoderContextBuilderTest.php
@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ public function testWithers(array $values)
             ->withDecoderIgnoredNodeTypes($values[XmlEncoder::DECODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES])
             ->withEncoderIgnoredNodeTypes($values[XmlEncoder::ENCODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES])
             ->withEncoding($values[XmlEncoder::ENCODING])
+            ->withForceCollection($values[XmlEncoder::FORCE_COLLECTION])
             ->withFormatOutput($values[XmlEncoder::FORMAT_OUTPUT])
             ->withLoadOptions($values[XmlEncoder::LOAD_OPTIONS])
             ->withSaveOptions($values[XmlEncoder::SAVE_OPTIONS])
@@ -59,6 +60,7 @@ public static function withersDataProvider(): iterable
             XmlEncoder::DECODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES => [\XML_PI_NODE, \XML_COMMENT_NODE],
             XmlEncoder::ENCODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES => [\XML_TEXT_NODE],
             XmlEncoder::ENCODING => 'UTF-8',
+            XmlEncoder::FORCE_COLLECTION => ['order'],
             XmlEncoder::FORMAT_OUTPUT => false,
             XmlEncoder::LOAD_OPTIONS => \LIBXML_COMPACT,
             XmlEncoder::SAVE_OPTIONS => \LIBXML_NOERROR,
@@ -76,6 +78,7 @@ public static function withersDataProvider(): iterable
             XmlEncoder::DECODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES => null,
             XmlEncoder::ENCODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES => null,
             XmlEncoder::ENCODING => null,
+            XmlEncoder::FORCE_COLLECTION => null,
             XmlEncoder::FORMAT_OUTPUT => null,
             XmlEncoder::LOAD_OPTIONS => null,
             XmlEncoder::SAVE_OPTIONS => null,
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index 31d2ddfc69c41..0d74136fb6328 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -704,6 +704,25 @@ public function testDecodeAlwaysAsCollection()
         $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml', ['as_collection' => true]));
     }
 
+    public function testDecodeGivenAttributeAlwaysAsCollection()
+    {
+        $source = <<<'XML'
+<order_rows>
+    <order_row>
+        <id>1</id>
+        <price>1200</price>
+    </order_row>
+</order_rows>
+XML;
+        $expected = [
+            'order_row' => [
+                ['id' => 1, 'price' => 1200],
+            ],
+        ];
+
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml', [XmlEncoder::FORCE_COLLECTION => ['order_rows']]));
+    }
+
     public function testDecodeWithoutItemHash()
     {
         $obj = new ScalarDummy();