diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-setuptools-constraint.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-setuptools-constraint.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..8fb0d0551f17bb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-test-setuptools-constraint.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+bugfixes:
+    - ansible-test no longer tries to install ``setuptools`` 45+ on Python 2.x since those versions are unsupported
diff --git a/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml b/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
index 2b5a8ac486fb2e..791e03dc6b6abd 100644
--- a/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
+++ b/test/integration/targets/pip/tasks/pip.yml
@@ -510,7 +510,11 @@
 
   - name: install distribute in the virtualenv
     pip:
-      name: distribute
+      # using -c for constraints is not supported as long as tests are executed using the centos6 container
+      # since the pip version in the venv is not upgraded and is too old (6.0.8)
+      name:
+        - distribute
+        - setuptools<45  # setuptools 45 and later require python 3.5 or later
       virtualenv: "{{ output_dir }}/pipenv"
       state: present
 
diff --git a/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt b/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt
index eff50cfb3263a0..0116de83892edb 100644
--- a/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt
+++ b/test/runner/requirements/constraints.txt
@@ -28,3 +28,4 @@ virtualenv < 16.0.0 ; python_version < '2.7' # virtualenv 16.0.0 and later requi
 pyopenssl < 18.0.0 ; python_version < '2.7' # pyOpenSSL 18.0.0 and later require python 2.7 or later
 pyfmg == 0.6.1 # newer versions do not pass current unit tests
 pycparser < 2.19 ; python_version < '2.7' # pycparser 2.19 and later require python 2.7 or later
+setuptools < 45 ; python_version <= '2.7' # setuptools 45 and later require python 3.5 or later