diff --git a/lib/SimpleSAML/XML/SAML20/AuthnRequest.php b/lib/SimpleSAML/XML/SAML20/AuthnRequest.php
index d7bf991be12f6fa5c757b9434654760e0ea6179c..261d7dfcc88d5740ed7952900ff5dd25f1dabb15 100644
--- a/lib/SimpleSAML/XML/SAML20/AuthnRequest.php
+++ b/lib/SimpleSAML/XML/SAML20/AuthnRequest.php
@@ -84,7 +84,7 @@ class SimpleSAML_XML_SAML20_AuthnRequest {
 		
 		if ($issuerNodes = $dom->getElementsByTagName('Issuer')) {
 			if ($issuerNodes->length > 0) {
-				$issuer = $issuerNodes->item(0)->textContent;
+				$issuer = trim($issuerNodes->item(0)->textContent);
 			}
 		}
 		return $issuer;