diff --git a/pkg/gameservers/controller.go b/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
index fde5019556..e6faaf191c 100644
--- a/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
@@ -867,6 +867,10 @@ func (c *Controller) syncGameServerRequestReadyState(ctx context.Context, gs *ag
 			break
 		}
 	}
+	// Verify that we found the game server container - we may have a stale cache where pod is missing ContainerStatuses.
+	if _, ok := gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Annotations[agonesv1.GameServerReadyContainerIDAnnotation]; !ok {
+		return nil, workerqueue.NewDebugError(fmt.Errorf("game server container for GameServer %s in namespace %s not present in pod status, try again", gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Name, gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Namespace))
+	}
 
 	// Also update the pod with the same annotation, so we can check if the Pod data is up-to-date, now and also in the HealthController.
 	// But if it is already set, then ignore it, since we only need to do this one time.
diff --git a/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go b/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
index 9b3ffe8d32..6ad5e03115 100644
--- a/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
@@ -1495,6 +1495,39 @@ func TestControllerSyncGameServerRequestReadyState(t *testing.T) {
 		assert.False(t, podUpdated, "Pod was updated")
 	})
 
+	t.Run("GameServer whose pod is missing ContainerStatuses, so should retry and not update", func(t *testing.T) {
+		c, m := newFakeController()
+
+		gsFixture := &agonesv1.GameServer{ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{Name: "test", Namespace: "default"},
+			Spec: newSingleContainerSpec(), Status: agonesv1.GameServerStatus{State: agonesv1.GameServerStateRequestReady}}
+		gsFixture.ApplyDefaults()
+		gsFixture.Status.NodeName = nodeName
+		pod, err := gsFixture.Pod(agtesting.FakeAPIHooks{})
+		assert.Nil(t, err)
+		gsUpdated := false
+		podUpdated := false
+
+		m.KubeClient.AddReactor("list", "pods", func(action k8stesting.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+			return true, &corev1.PodList{Items: []corev1.Pod{*pod}}, nil
+		})
+		m.AgonesClient.AddReactor("update", "gameservers", func(action k8stesting.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+			gsUpdated = true
+			return true, nil, nil
+		})
+		m.KubeClient.AddReactor("update", "pods", func(action k8stesting.Action) (bool, runtime.Object, error) {
+			podUpdated = true
+			return true, nil, nil
+		})
+
+		ctx, cancel := agtesting.StartInformers(m, c.podSynced)
+		defer cancel()
+
+		_, err = c.syncGameServerRequestReadyState(ctx, gsFixture)
+		assert.EqualError(t, err, "game server container for GameServer test in namespace default not present in pod status, try again")
+		assert.False(t, gsUpdated, "GameServer was updated")
+		assert.False(t, podUpdated, "Pod was updated")
+	})
+
 	t.Run("GameServer with non zero deletion datetime", func(t *testing.T) {
 		testWithNonZeroDeletionTimestamp(t, func(c *Controller, fixture *agonesv1.GameServer) (*agonesv1.GameServer, error) {
 			return c.syncGameServerRequestReadyState(context.Background(), fixture)