diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/8790-gitlab_project-fix-cleanup-policy-on-project-create.yml b/changelogs/fragments/8790-gitlab_project-fix-cleanup-policy-on-project-create.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ba171a1178
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/8790-gitlab_project-fix-cleanup-policy-on-project-create.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+bugfixes:
+  - gitlab_project - fix crash caused by old Gitlab projects not having a ``container_expiration_policy`` attribute (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/8790).
+  - gitlab_project - fix ``container_expiration_policy`` not being applied when creating a new project (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/8790).
diff --git a/plugins/modules/gitlab_project.py b/plugins/modules/gitlab_project.py
index c98e442cb0..87ad83dbc3 100644
--- a/plugins/modules/gitlab_project.py
+++ b/plugins/modules/gitlab_project.py
@@ -512,6 +512,8 @@ class GitLabProject(object):
             return True
 
         arguments['namespace_id'] = namespace.id
+        if 'container_expiration_policy' in arguments:
+            arguments['container_expiration_policy_attributes'] = arguments['container_expiration_policy']
         try:
             project = self._gitlab.projects.create(arguments)
         except (gitlab.exceptions.GitlabCreateError) as e:
@@ -539,9 +541,9 @@ class GitLabProject(object):
 
         for arg_key, arg_value in arguments.items():
             if arguments[arg_key] is not None:
-                if getattr(project, arg_key) != arguments[arg_key]:
+                if getattr(project, arg_key, None) != arguments[arg_key]:
                     if arg_key == 'container_expiration_policy':
-                        old_val = getattr(project, arg_key)
+                        old_val = getattr(project, arg_key, {})
                         final_val = {key: value for key, value in arg_value.items() if value is not None}
 
                         if final_val.get('older_than') == '0d':