diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index c0e306afd360c1f14342a184913930f2a283113c..aac584fffbf281180f7080ddd81bd644d672ccd8 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ before_script:
    # make toil workdir
    - mkdir workdir
    - mkdir logs
+   - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
 
 after_script:
   - echo "All done"
@@ -34,7 +35,6 @@ push_docker_tags:
     - tags
   script: 
     - docker tag lofareosc/prefactor-ci:latest $CI_REGISTRY/prefactor-ci:$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
-    - docker login -u $CI_REGISTRY_USER -p $CI_REGISTRY_PASSWORD $CI_REGISTRY
     - docker push $CI_REGISTRY/prefactor-ci:$CI_COMMIT_REF_NAME
 
 push_docker_master: