diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Loader/XmlFileLoader.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Loader/XmlFileLoader.php
index e56add97a3..444a08a776 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Loader/XmlFileLoader.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Loader/XmlFileLoader.php
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@ class XmlFileLoader extends FileLoader
         $options = [];
         $condition = null;
 
+        /** @var \DOMElement $n */
         foreach ($node->getElementsByTagNameNS(self::NAMESPACE_URI, '*') as $n) {
             if ($node !== $n->parentNode) {
                 continue;
@@ -226,7 +227,7 @@ class XmlFileLoader extends FileLoader
                     $requirements[$n->getAttribute('key')] = trim($n->textContent);
                     break;
                 case 'option':
-                    $options[$n->getAttribute('key')] = trim($n->textContent);
+                    $options[$n->getAttribute('key')] = XmlUtils::phpize(trim($n->textContent));
                     break;
                 case 'condition':
                     $condition = trim($n->textContent);
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Fixtures/localized/utf8.xml b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Fixtures/localized/utf8.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..95aff20cfe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Fixtures/localized/utf8.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
+<routes xmlns="http://symfony.com/schema/routing"
+        xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+        xsi:schemaLocation="http://symfony.com/schema/routing
+        http://symfony.com/schema/routing/routing-1.0.xsd">
+
+    <route id="app_utf8" path="/utf8">
+        <option key="utf8">true</option>
+    </route>
+    <route id="app_no_utf8" path="/no-utf8">
+        <option key="utf8">false</option>
+    </route>
+</routes>
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Loader/XmlFileLoaderTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Loader/XmlFileLoaderTest.php
index 66588e7e90..9a061b295a 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Loader/XmlFileLoaderTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Tests/Loader/XmlFileLoaderTest.php
@@ -83,6 +83,26 @@ class XmlFileLoaderTest extends TestCase
         }
     }
 
+    public function testUtf8Route()
+    {
+        $loader = new XmlFileLoader(new FileLocator([__DIR__.'/../Fixtures/localized']));
+        $routeCollection = $loader->load('utf8.xml');
+        $routes = $routeCollection->all();
+
+        $this->assertCount(2, $routes, 'Two routes are loaded');
+        $this->assertContainsOnly('Symfony\Component\Routing\Route', $routes);
+
+        $utf8Route = $routeCollection->get('app_utf8');
+
+        $this->assertSame('/utf8', $utf8Route->getPath());
+        $this->assertTrue($utf8Route->getOption('utf8'), 'Must be utf8');
+
+        $noUtf8Route = $routeCollection->get('app_no_utf8');
+
+        $this->assertSame('/no-utf8', $noUtf8Route->getPath());
+        $this->assertFalse($noUtf8Route->getOption('utf8'), 'Must not be utf8');
+    }
+
     /**
      * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
      * @dataProvider getPathsToInvalidFiles