diff --git a/src/engine/client/backend_sdl.cpp b/src/engine/client/backend_sdl.cpp
index 41020b61d..0adfd82d2 100644
--- a/src/engine/client/backend_sdl.cpp
+++ b/src/engine/client/backend_sdl.cpp
@@ -1019,6 +1019,13 @@ int CGraphicsBackend_SDL_GL::Init(const char *pName, int *pScreen, int *pWidth,
 		SDL_GetVersion(&Linked);
 		dbg_msg("sdl", "SDL version %d.%d.%d (compiled = %d.%d.%d)", Linked.major, Linked.minor, Linked.patch,
 			Compiled.major, Compiled.minor, Compiled.patch);
+
+#if CONF_PLATFORM_LINUX && SDL_VERSION_ATLEAST(2, 0, 22)
+		// needed to workaround SDL from forcing exclusively X11 if linking against the GLX flavour of GLEW instead of the EGL one
+		// w/o this on Wayland systems (no XWayland support) SDL's Video subsystem will fail to load (starting from SDL2.30+)
+		if(Linked.major == 2 && Linked.minor >= 30)
+			SDL_SetHint(SDL_HINT_VIDEODRIVER, "x11,wayland");
+#endif
 	}
 
 	if(!SDL_WasInit(SDL_INIT_VIDEO))