diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Platforms/MySqlPlatform.php b/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Platforms/MySqlPlatform.php
index 777d11216f8..289dca9e7d7 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Platforms/MySqlPlatform.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Platforms/MySqlPlatform.php
@@ -953,6 +953,14 @@ protected function _getCommonIntegerTypeDeclarationSQL(array $columnDef)
         return $this->getUnsignedDeclaration($columnDef) . $autoinc;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * {@inheritDoc}
+     */
+    public function getColumnCharsetDeclarationSQL($charset)
+    {
+        return 'CHARACTER SET ' . $charset;
+    }
+
     /**
      * {@inheritDoc}
      */
diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Schema/MySqlSchemaManager.php b/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Schema/MySqlSchemaManager.php
index 7bcd5533efc..85b5b5c4734 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Schema/MySqlSchemaManager.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Schema/MySqlSchemaManager.php
@@ -192,6 +192,9 @@ protected function _getPortableTableColumnDefinition($tableColumn)
 
         $column = new Column($tableColumn['field'], Type::getType($type), $options);
 
+        if (isset($tableColumn['characterset'])) {
+            $column->setPlatformOption('charset', $tableColumn['characterset']);
+        }
         if (isset($tableColumn['collation'])) {
             $column->setPlatformOption('collation', $tableColumn['collation']);
         }
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Functional/Schema/MySqlSchemaManagerTest.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Functional/Schema/MySqlSchemaManagerTest.php
index 90ade2e86b8..ef457f0c590 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Functional/Schema/MySqlSchemaManagerTest.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Functional/Schema/MySqlSchemaManagerTest.php
@@ -201,6 +201,59 @@ public function testDoesNotPropagateDefaultValuesForUnsupportedColumnTypes()
         self::assertFalse($onlineTable->getColumn('def_blob_null')->getNotnull());
     }
 
+    public function testColumnCharset()
+    {
+        $table = new Table('test_column_charset');
+        $table->addColumn('id', 'integer');
+        $table->addColumn('no_charset', 'text');
+        $table->addColumn('foo', 'text')->setPlatformOption('charset', 'ascii');
+        $table->addColumn('bar', 'text')->setPlatformOption('charset', 'latin1');
+        $this->schemaManager->dropAndCreateTable($table);
+
+        $columns = $this->schemaManager->listTableColumns('test_column_charset');
+
+        self::assertFalse($columns['id']->hasPlatformOption('charset'));
+        self::assertEquals('utf8', $columns['no_charset']->getPlatformOption('charset'));
+        self::assertEquals('ascii', $columns['foo']->getPlatformOption('charset'));
+        self::assertEquals('latin1', $columns['bar']->getPlatformOption('charset'));
+    }
+
+    public function testAlterColumnCharset()
+    {
+        $tableName = 'test_alter_column_charset';
+
+        $table = new Table($tableName);
+        $table->addColumn('col_text', 'text')->setPlatformOption('charset', 'utf8');
+
+        $this->schemaManager->dropAndCreateTable($table);
+
+        $diffTable = clone $table;
+        $diffTable->getColumn('col_text')->setPlatformOption('charset', 'ascii');
+
+        $comparator = new Comparator();
+
+        $this->schemaManager->alterTable($comparator->diffTable($table, $diffTable));
+
+        $table = $this->schemaManager->listTableDetails($tableName);
+
+        self::assertEquals('ascii', $table->getColumn('col_text')->getPlatformOption('charset'));
+    }
+
+    public function testColumnCharsetChange()
+    {
+        $table = new Table('test_column_charset_change');
+        $table->addColumn('col_string', 'string')->setLength(100)->setNotnull(true)->setPlatformOption('charset', 'utf8');
+
+        $diffTable = clone $table;
+        $diffTable->getColumn('col_string')->setPlatformOption('charset', 'ascii');
+
+        $fromSchema = new Schema([$table]);
+        $toSchema   = new Schema([$diffTable]);
+
+        $diff = $fromSchema->getMigrateToSql($toSchema, $this->connection->getDatabasePlatform());
+        self::assertContains('ALTER TABLE test_column_charset_change CHANGE col_string col_string VARCHAR(100) CHARACTER SET ascii NOT NULL', $diff);
+    }
+
     public function testColumnCollation()
     {
         $table                                  = new Table('test_collation');
diff --git a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Platforms/AbstractMySQLPlatformTestCase.php b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Platforms/AbstractMySQLPlatformTestCase.php
index 63148215f22..6dec263df34 100644
--- a/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Platforms/AbstractMySQLPlatformTestCase.php
+++ b/tests/Doctrine/Tests/DBAL/Platforms/AbstractMySQLPlatformTestCase.php
@@ -905,6 +905,14 @@ public function testListTableForeignKeysSQLEvaluatesDatabase()
         self::assertNotContains('DATABASE()', $sql);
     }
 
+    public function testColumnCharsetDeclarationSQL() : void
+    {
+        self::assertSame(
+            'CHARACTER SET ascii',
+            $this->platform->getColumnCharsetDeclarationSQL('ascii')
+        );
+    }
+
     public function testSupportsColumnCollation() : void
     {
         self::assertTrue($this->platform->supportsColumnCollation());