diff --git a/src/fpm/git.f90 b/src/fpm/git.f90
index 46dcca3afa..0134558261 100644
--- a/src/fpm/git.f90
+++ b/src/fpm/git.f90
@@ -157,7 +157,7 @@ subroutine checkout(self, local_path, error)
             return
         end if
 
-        call execute_command_line("git "//workdir//" fetch --depth=1 "// &
+        call execute_command_line("git "//workdir//" fetch --depth=1 --recursive "// &
                                   self%url//" "//object, exitstat=stat)
 
         if (stat /= 0) then