diff --git a/asyncpg/connect_utils.py b/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
index 61eae0c0..528739d0 100644
--- a/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
+++ b/asyncpg/connect_utils.py
@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@
 
 _SSL_REQUEST_CODE = 80877103
 
+# Required by PostgreSQL 17+ for direct TLS connections.
+_ALPN_PROTOCOLS = ['postgresql']
+
 
 class SSLMode(enum.IntEnum):
     disable = 0
@@ -811,8 +814,13 @@ def _parse_connect_dsn_and_args(*, dsn, host, port, user,
                     ssl_max_protocol_version
                 )
 
+            if ssl_module.HAS_ALPN:
+                ssl.set_alpn_protocols(_ALPN_PROTOCOLS)
+
     elif ssl is True:
         ssl = ssl_module.create_default_context()
+        if ssl_module.HAS_ALPN:
+            ssl.set_alpn_protocols(_ALPN_PROTOCOLS)
         sslmode = SSLMode.verify_full
     elif isinstance(ssl, ssl_module.SSLContext):
         sslmode = SSLMode.require
diff --git a/asyncpg/connection.py b/asyncpg/connection.py
index d28d95c4..e3186bc3 100644
--- a/asyncpg/connection.py
+++ b/asyncpg/connection.py
@@ -2337,6 +2337,10 @@ async def connect(dsn=None, *,
         Pass ``True`` to skip PostgreSQL STARTTLS mode and perform a direct
         SSL connection. Requires ``ssl='require'``, ``'verify-ca'``,
         ``'verify-full'``, ``True``, or an explicit ``SSLContext``.
+        PostgreSQL 17+ requires the ``postgresql`` ALPN protocol for direct
+        SSL connections: asyncpg sets it on the contexts it creates, but an
+        explicit ``SSLContext`` must set it with
+        ``ctx.set_alpn_protocols(['postgresql'])``.
 
     :param dict server_settings:
         An optional dict of server runtime parameters.  Refer to
@@ -2456,6 +2460,8 @@ async def connect(dsn=None, *,
        ``ssl=True``, or an explicit ``SSLContext``. Other values
        (``'disable'``, ``'allow'``, and ``'prefer'``) will raise a
        ``ClientConfigurationError``.
+       SSL contexts created by asyncpg now set the ``postgresql`` ALPN
+       protocol, which PostgreSQL 17+ requires for direct SSL connections.
 
     .. _SSLContext: https://docs.python.org/3/library/ssl.html#ssl.SSLContext
     .. _create_default_context:
diff --git a/tests/test_connect.py b/tests/test_connect.py
index e00c7b6c..66341f40 100644
--- a/tests/test_connect.py
+++ b/tests/test_connect.py
@@ -2331,6 +2331,20 @@ async def test_direct_tls_connection(self):
         self.assertEqual(ctx.verify_mode, ssl.CERT_NONE)
         self.assertFalse(ctx.check_hostname)
 
+    async def test_direct_tls_native(self):
+        if self.cluster.get_pg_version() < (17, 0):
+            self.skipTest('native direct TLS requires PostgreSQL 17+')
+
+        for mode in ('require', 'verify-ca', 'verify-full', True):
+            with self.subTest(mode=mode):
+                with unittest.mock.patch.dict(os.environ, {
+                    'SSL_CERT_FILE': SSL_CA_CERT_FILE,
+                }):
+                    await self._test_works(
+                        dsn='postgresql://ssl_user@localhost/postgres'
+                            '?sslrootcert=' + SSL_CA_CERT_FILE,
+                        ssl=mode, direct_tls=True, expected_ssl=True)
+
     async def test_direct_tls_configuration_sources(self):
         base_dsn = 'postgresql://ssl_user@localhost/postgres'