diff --git a/include/haproxy/cpu_topo.h b/include/haproxy/cpu_topo.h
index 72c611380..d80244079 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/cpu_topo.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/cpu_topo.h
@@ -43,4 +43,14 @@ int cpu_map_configured(void);
  */
 void cpu_dump_topology(const struct ha_cpu_topo *topo);
 
+/* re-order a CPU topology array by CPU index only, to undo the function above,
+ * in case other calls need to be made on top of this.
+ */
+void cpu_reorder_by_index(struct ha_cpu_topo *topo, int entries);
+
+/* Functions used by qsort to compare hardware CPUs (not meant to be used from
+ * outside cpu_topo).
+ */
+int _cmp_cpu_index(const void *a, const void *b);
+
 #endif /* _HAPROXY_CPU_TOPO_H */
diff --git a/src/cpu_topo.c b/src/cpu_topo.c
index d1431a503..363ab8707 100644
--- a/src/cpu_topo.c
+++ b/src/cpu_topo.c
@@ -221,6 +221,32 @@ void cpu_dump_topology(const struct ha_cpu_topo *topo)
 	}
 }
 
+/* function used by qsort to re-arrange CPUs by index only, to restore original
+ * ordering.
+ */
+int _cmp_cpu_index(const void *a, const void *b)
+{
+	const struct ha_cpu_topo *l = (const struct ha_cpu_topo *)a;
+	const struct ha_cpu_topo *r = (const struct ha_cpu_topo *)b;
+
+	/* next, IDX, so that SMT ordering is preserved */
+	if (l->idx >= 0 && l->idx < r->idx)
+		return -1;
+	if (l->idx > r->idx && r->idx >= 0)
+		return  1;
+
+	/* exactly the same (e.g. absent, should not happend) */
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/* re-order a CPU topology array by CPU index only. This is mostly used before
+ * listing CPUs regardless of their characteristics.
+ */
+void cpu_reorder_by_index(struct ha_cpu_topo *topo, int entries)
+{
+	qsort(topo, entries, sizeof(*topo), _cmp_cpu_index);
+}
+
 /* returns an optimal maxcpus for the current system. It will take into
  * account what is reported by the OS, if any, otherwise will fall back
  * to the cpuset size, which serves as an upper limit in any case.
diff --git a/src/thread.c b/src/thread.c
index 0227d4a16..7a720d827 100644
--- a/src/thread.c
+++ b/src/thread.c
@@ -1695,8 +1695,10 @@ void thread_detect_count(void)
 	}
 
 #if defined(USE_THREAD) && defined(USE_CPU_AFFINITY)
-	if (global.tune.debug & GDBG_CPU_AFFINITY)
+	if (global.tune.debug & GDBG_CPU_AFFINITY) {
+		cpu_reorder_by_index(ha_cpu_topo, cpu_topo_maxcpus);
 		cpu_dump_topology(ha_cpu_topo);
+	}
 #endif
 	return;
 }