diff --git a/roles/copr/backend/tasks/main.yml b/roles/copr/backend/tasks/main.yml
index d63f224d44..7337b76361 100644
--- a/roles/copr/backend/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/roles/copr/backend/tasks/main.yml
@@ -5,6 +5,10 @@
 - name: setup networking
   include: "network.yml"
 
+# pre-create copr user and group with predefined uid and gid
+- group: name=copr gid=986
+- user: name=copr group=copr uid=989
+
 - name: install copr local path repo
   copy: src="yum/copr_local.repo" dest="/etc/yum.repos.d/copr_local.repo"
   tags: