diff --git a/services/containerd.go b/services/containerd.go
index 61b622a2121a8573f033f627f5b0d95472353e26..4377b40aefb439944a4620a91c90ca8ae8a96cdb 100644
--- a/services/containerd.go
+++ b/services/containerd.go
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/metadata/plugin"
 	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/metrics/cgroups"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/mount"
-	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/pkg/cri"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/plugin"
 	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/plugins/sandbox"
 	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/runtime/restart/monitor"
@@ -40,6 +39,11 @@ import (
 	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/snapshots/overlay/plugin"
 	"github.com/containerd/containerd/sys"
 	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	// Explicitely import the CRI plugin last, so that we do not
+	// trigger a bug related to plugin ordering, this comment is meant for
+	// gofmt to not reorder the following line
+	// See: https://github.com/containerd/containerd/issues/8984
+	_ "github.com/containerd/containerd/pkg/cri"
 )
 
 const (