diff --git a/.changeset/dull-banks-shake.md b/.changeset/dull-banks-shake.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1882cf4f42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/dull-banks-shake.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@backstage/catalog-model': patch
+---
+
+Added support for icons containing colons
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.test.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.test.ts
index 9fe041a839..3efef8691a 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.test.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.test.ts
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ describe('FieldFormatEntityPolicy', () => {
     },
   );
 
-  it.each([[123], [{}], [[]], ['abc xyz']])(
+  it.each([[123], [{}], [[]]])(
     'rejects bad link icon value %s',
     async (icon: unknown) => {
       data.metadata.links = [{ url: 'http://foo', icon }];
@@ -208,10 +208,8 @@ describe('FieldFormatEntityPolicy', () => {
   it('rejects a single bad link icon value', async () => {
     data.metadata.links = [
       { url: 'http://foo', icon: 'good' },
-      { url: 'http://foo', icon: 'not good' },
+      { url: 'http://foo', icon: 123 },
     ];
-    await expect(policy.enforce(data)).rejects.toThrow(
-      /links.1.icon.*"not good"/i,
-    );
+    await expect(policy.enforce(data)).rejects.toThrow(/links.1.icon.*"123"/i);
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.ts b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.ts
index 18e9523478..961eb16ecd 100644
--- a/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.ts
+++ b/packages/catalog-model/src/entity/policies/FieldFormatEntityPolicy.ts
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ export class FieldFormatEntityPolicy implements EntityPolicy {
       optional(
         `links.${i}.icon`,
         links[i]?.icon,
-        KubernetesValidatorFunctions.isValidObjectName,
+        CommonValidatorFunctions.isNonEmptyString,
       );
     }