diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
index ed66fa30898df..cc983042fefb4 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Encoder/XmlEncoder.php
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ class XmlEncoder implements EncoderInterface, DecoderInterface, NormalizationAwa
     public const TYPE_CAST_ATTRIBUTES = 'xml_type_cast_attributes';
     public const VERSION = 'xml_version';
     public const CDATA_WRAPPING = 'cdata_wrapping';
+    public const ARRAY_AS_ITEM = 'array_as_item';
     public const CDATA_WRAPPING_PATTERN = 'cdata_wrapping_pattern';
     public const IGNORE_EMPTY_ATTRIBUTES = 'ignore_empty_attributes';
 
@@ -71,6 +72,7 @@ class XmlEncoder implements EncoderInterface, DecoderInterface, NormalizationAwa
         self::REMOVE_EMPTY_TAGS => false,
         self::ROOT_NODE_NAME => 'response',
         self::TYPE_CAST_ATTRIBUTES => true,
+        self::ARRAY_AS_ITEM => false,
         self::CDATA_WRAPPING => true,
         self::CDATA_WRAPPING_PATTERN => '/[<>&]/',
         self::IGNORE_EMPTY_ATTRIBUTES => false,
@@ -345,6 +347,7 @@ private function buildXml(\DOMNode $parentNode, mixed $data, string $format, arr
     {
         $append = true;
         $removeEmptyTags = $context[self::REMOVE_EMPTY_TAGS] ?? $this->defaultContext[self::REMOVE_EMPTY_TAGS] ?? false;
+        $arrayAsItem = $context[self::ARRAY_AS_ITEM] ?? $this->defaultContext[self::ARRAY_AS_ITEM] ?? false;
         $encoderIgnoredNodeTypes = $context[self::ENCODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES] ?? $this->defaultContext[self::ENCODER_IGNORED_NODE_TYPES];
 
         if (\is_array($data) || ($data instanceof \Traversable && (null === $this->serializer || !$this->serializer->supportsNormalization($data, $format)))) {
@@ -373,7 +376,7 @@ private function buildXml(\DOMNode $parentNode, mixed $data, string $format, arr
                     }
                 } elseif (\is_array($data) && false === is_numeric($key)) {
                     // Is this array fully numeric keys?
-                    if (ctype_digit(implode('', array_keys($data)))) {
+                    if (!$arrayAsItem && ctype_digit(implode('', array_keys($data)))) {
                         /*
                          * Create nodes to append to $parentNode based on the $key of this array
                          * Produces <xml><item>0</item><item>1</item></xml>
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
index 78699983f7592..5c218d541dd24 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Serializer/Tests/Encoder/XmlEncoderTest.php
@@ -1017,4 +1017,48 @@ public function testEncodeIgnoringEmptyAttribute()
 
         $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($data, 'xml', ['ignore_empty_attributes' => true]));
     }
+
+    public function testEncodeArrayAsItem()
+    {
+        $expected = <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<response><person><item key="0"><firstname>Benjamin</firstname><lastname>Alexandre</lastname></item><item key="1"><firstname>Damien</firstname><lastname>Clay</lastname></item></person></response>
+
+XML;
+        $source = ['person' => [
+            ['firstname' => 'Benjamin', 'lastname' => 'Alexandre'],
+            ['firstname' => 'Damien', 'lastname' => 'Clay'],
+        ]];
+
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->encode($source, 'xml', [
+            XmlEncoder::ARRAY_AS_ITEM => true,
+        ]));
+    }
+
+    public function testDecodeArrayAsItem()
+    {
+        $source = <<<'XML'
+<?xml version="1.0"?>
+<response>
+    <person>
+        <item key="0">
+            <firstname>Benjamin</firstname>
+            <lastname>Alexandre</lastname>
+        </item>
+        <item key="1">
+            <firstname>Damien</firstname>
+            <lastname>Clay</lastname>
+        </item>
+    </person>
+</response>
+XML;
+        $expected = ['person' => [
+            ['firstname' => 'Benjamin', 'lastname' => 'Alexandre', '@key' => 0],
+            ['firstname' => 'Damien', 'lastname' => 'Clay', '@key' => 1],
+        ]];
+
+        $this->assertEquals($expected, $this->encoder->decode($source, 'xml', [
+            XmlEncoder::ARRAY_AS_ITEM => true,
+        ]));
+    }
 }