diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation.go b/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation.go
index 172af5b0ca8..b8c67aea4e9 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation.go
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func validateDockerNetworkMode(artifacts []*latest.Artifact) (errs []error) {
 		if mode == "none" || mode == "bridge" || mode == "host" {
 			continue
 		}
-		containerRegExp := regexp.MustCompile("container:.+")
+		containerRegExp := regexp.MustCompile("^container:[a-zA-Z0-9][a-zA-Z0-9_.-]*$")
 		if containerRegExp.MatchString(mode) {
 			continue
 		}
diff --git a/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation_test.go b/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation_test.go
index 086796e07d6..4462958e590 100644
--- a/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation_test.go
+++ b/pkg/skaffold/schema/validation/validation_test.go
@@ -309,13 +309,54 @@ func TestValidateNetworkMode(t *testing.T) {
 			shouldErr: true,
 		},
 		{
-			description: "container's network stack",
+			description: "wrong container's network stack '-not-valid'",
 			artifacts: []*latest.Artifact{
 				{
 					ImageName: "image/container",
 					ArtifactType: latest.ArtifactType{
 						DockerArtifact: &latest.DockerArtifact{
-							NetworkMode: "Container:unique-identifier",
+							NetworkMode: "Container:-not-valid",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			shouldErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			description: "wrong container's network stack 'fussball'",
+			artifacts: []*latest.Artifact{
+				{
+					ImageName: "image/container",
+					ArtifactType: latest.ArtifactType{
+						DockerArtifact: &latest.DockerArtifact{
+							NetworkMode: "Container:fußball",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+			shouldErr: true,
+		},
+		{
+			description: "container's network stack 'unique'",
+			artifacts: []*latest.Artifact{
+				{
+					ImageName: "image/container",
+					ArtifactType: latest.ArtifactType{
+						DockerArtifact: &latest.DockerArtifact{
+							NetworkMode: "Container:unique",
+						},
+					},
+				},
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			description: "container's network stack 'unique-id.123'",
+			artifacts: []*latest.Artifact{
+				{
+					ImageName: "image/container",
+					ArtifactType: latest.ArtifactType{
+						DockerArtifact: &latest.DockerArtifact{
+							NetworkMode: "Container:unique-id.123",
 						},
 					},
 				},