SET NAMES utf8; DROP TABLE IF EXISTS sorting_test; CREATE TABLE `sorting_test` ( `int_value` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL, `string_value` char(10) NOT NULL ) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8; INSERT INTO `sorting_test` VALUES (3,'äz'); INSERT INTO `sorting_test` VALUES (1,'aa'); INSERT INTO `sorting_test` VALUES (2,'ba');