diff --git a/net/haproxy/pkg-descr b/net/haproxy/pkg-descr
index 6ea53de08..31a2faff2 100644
--- a/net/haproxy/pkg-descr
+++ b/net/haproxy/pkg-descr
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ Plugin Changelog
 4.0
 
 Added:
-* add new option "Gradual connection close time" (close-spread-time) (#3026)
+* add new service option "Gradual connection close time" (close-spread-time) (#3026)
+* add new frontend option "shards" (#3026)
 
 Changed:
 * upgrade to HAProxy 2.6 release series (#3026)
diff --git a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/HAProxy/forms/dialogFrontend.xml b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/HAProxy/forms/dialogFrontend.xml
index 9d776f2ff..2a4c492a5 100644
--- a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/HAProxy/forms/dialogFrontend.xml
+++ b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/controllers/OPNsense/HAProxy/forms/dialogFrontend.xml
@@ -297,6 +297,13 @@
         <hint>Choose CPU affinity rules.</hint>
         <advanced>true</advanced>
     </field>
+    <field>
+        <id>frontend.tuning_shards</id>
+        <label>Shards</label>
+        <type>text</type>
+        <help><![CDATA[This option automatically creates the specified number of listeners for every IP:port combination and evenly distributes them among available threads. This can sometimes be useful when using very large thread counts where the in-kernel locking on a single socket starts to cause a significant overhead.]]></help>
+        <advanced>true</advanced>
+    </field>
     <field>
         <label>Logging Options</label>
         <type>header</type>
diff --git a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/HAProxy/HAProxy.xml b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/HAProxy/HAProxy.xml
index 340264d97..baf4277b3 100644
--- a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/HAProxy/HAProxy.xml
+++ b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/mvc/app/models/OPNsense/HAProxy/HAProxy.xml
@@ -655,6 +655,12 @@
                     <Multiple>Y</Multiple>
                     <Required>N</Required>
                 </linkedCpuAffinityRules>
+                <tuning_shards type="IntegerField">
+                    <MinimumValue>2</MinimumValue>
+                    <MaximumValue>1000</MaximumValue>
+                    <ValidationMessage>Please specify a value between 2 and 1000.</ValidationMessage>
+                    <Required>N</Required>
+                </tuning_shards>
                 <logging_dontLogNull type="BooleanField">
                     <default>0</default>
                     <Required>Y</Required>
diff --git a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/service/templates/OPNsense/HAProxy/haproxy.conf b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/service/templates/OPNsense/HAProxy/haproxy.conf
index f465e6bf5..441e12ce2 100644
--- a/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/service/templates/OPNsense/HAProxy/haproxy.conf
+++ b/net/haproxy/src/opnsense/service/templates/OPNsense/HAProxy/haproxy.conf
@@ -1383,6 +1383,10 @@ frontend {{frontend.name}}
 {%           endif %}
 {%         endfor %}
 {%       endif %}
+{#       # shards / multiple listeners on the same IP:port #}
+{%       if frontend.tuning_shards|default('') != '' %}
+{%         do adv_options.append('shards ' ~ frontend.tuning_shards) %}
+{%       endif %}
 {#       # bind/listen configuration #}
 {%       if frontend.bind|default("") != "" %}
 {%         for bind in frontend.bind.split(",") %}