diff --git a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/play.go b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/play.go
index 1d1f3a6407..9a1811bd87 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/infra/abi/play.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/infra/abi/play.go
@@ -714,6 +714,11 @@ func (ic *ContainerEngine) playKubePod(ctx context.Context, podName string, podY
 		podSpec.PodSpecGen.ServiceContainerID = serviceContainer.ID()
 	}
 
+	if options.Replace {
+		if _, err := ic.PodRm(ctx, []string{podName}, entities.PodRmOptions{Force: true, Ignore: true}); err != nil {
+			return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("replacing pod %v: %w", podName, err)
+		}
+	}
 	// Create the Pod
 	pod, err := generate.MakePod(&podSpec, ic.Libpod)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/test/apiv2/80-kube.at b/test/apiv2/80-kube.at
index 91afb2dc08..ef72171215 100644
--- a/test/apiv2/80-kube.at
+++ b/test/apiv2/80-kube.at
@@ -48,6 +48,13 @@ t POST   libpod/kube/play $YAML 200 \
   .Pods[0].ContainerErrors=null \
   .Pods[0].Containers[0]~[0-9a-f]\\{64\\}
 
+t POST   libpod/kube/play $YAML 500
+
+t POST   'libpod/kube/play?replace=true' $YAML 200 \
+  .Pods[0].ID~[0-9a-f]\\{64\\} \
+  .Pods[0].ContainerErrors=null \
+  .Pods[0].Containers[0]~[0-9a-f]\\{64\\}
+
 t DELETE libpod/kube/play $YAML 200 \
   .StopReport[0].Id~[0-9a-f]\\{64\\} \
   .RmReport[0].Id~[0-9a-f]\\{64\\}