diff --git a/doc/configuration.txt b/doc/configuration.txt
index 9461b9b90..4f7fc4afb 100644
--- a/doc/configuration.txt
+++ b/doc/configuration.txt
@@ -1165,16 +1165,22 @@ close-spread-time <time>
   close" line to the HTTP response, or by sending a GOAWAY frame in case of
   HTTP2. When this option is set, connection closing will be spread over this
   set <time>.
+  If the close-spread-time is set to "infinite", active connection closing
+  during a soft-stop will be disabled. The "Connection: close" header will not
+  be added to HTTP responses (or GOAWAY for HTTP2) anymore and idle connections
+  will only be closed once their timeout is reached (based on the various
+  timeouts set in the configuration).
 
   Arguments :
     <time>  is a time window (by default in milliseconds) during which
-            connection closing will be spread during a soft-stop operation.
+            connection closing will be spread during a soft-stop operation, or
+            "infinite" if active connection closing should be disabled.
 
   It is recommended to set this setting to a value lower than the one used in
   the "hard-stop-after" option if this one is used, so that all connections
   have a chance to gracefully close before the process stops.
 
-  See also: grace, hard-stop-after
+  See also: grace, hard-stop-after, idle-close-on-response
 
 cpu-map [auto:]<process-set>[/<thread-set>] <cpu-set>...
   On some operating systems, it is possible to bind a process or a thread to a
diff --git a/include/haproxy/global-t.h b/include/haproxy/global-t.h
index c188cb38c..7b8c2e6b8 100644
--- a/include/haproxy/global-t.h
+++ b/include/haproxy/global-t.h
@@ -74,6 +74,7 @@
 #define GTUNE_SCHED_LOW_LATENCY  (1<<19)
 #define GTUNE_IDLE_POOL_SHARED   (1<<20)
 #define GTUNE_DISABLE_H2_WEBSOCKET (1<<21)
+#define GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE (1<<22)
 
 /* SSL server verify mode */
 enum {
diff --git a/src/mux_h1.c b/src/mux_h1.c
index bdbd61fb1..6e9e50ea2 100644
--- a/src/mux_h1.c
+++ b/src/mux_h1.c
@@ -1198,7 +1198,9 @@ static void h1_set_cli_conn_mode(struct h1s *h1s, struct h1m *h1m)
 	}
 
 	/* If KAL, check if the frontend is stopping. If yes, switch in CLO mode
-	 * unless a 'close-spread-time' option is set.
+	 * unless a 'close-spread-time' option is set (either to define a
+	 * soft-close window or to disable active closing (close-spread-time
+	 * option set to 0).
 	 */
 	if (h1s->flags & H1S_F_WANT_KAL && (fe->flags & (PR_FL_DISABLED|PR_FL_STOPPED))) {
 		int want_clo = 1;
@@ -1215,6 +1217,8 @@ static void h1_set_cli_conn_mode(struct h1s *h1s, struct h1m *h1m)
 				want_clo = (remaining_window <= statistical_prng_range(global.close_spread_time));
 			}
 		}
+		else if (global.tune.options & GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE)
+			want_clo = 0;
 
 		if (want_clo) {
 			h1s->flags = (h1s->flags & ~H1S_F_WANT_MSK) | H1S_F_WANT_CLO;
@@ -3088,6 +3092,8 @@ static int h1_process(struct h1c * h1c)
 						send_close = (remaining_window <= statistical_prng_range(global.close_spread_time));
 					}
 				}
+				else if (global.tune.options & GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE)
+					send_close = 0; /* let the client close his connection himself */
 				if (send_close)
 					goto release;
 			}
diff --git a/src/mux_h2.c b/src/mux_h2.c
index 4bacc8c2f..20193d4e6 100644
--- a/src/mux_h2.c
+++ b/src/mux_h2.c
@@ -4059,6 +4059,8 @@ static int h2_process(struct h2c *h2c)
 				send_goaway = (remaining_window <= statistical_prng_range(global.close_spread_time));
 			}
 		}
+		else if (global.tune.options & GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE)
+			send_goaway = 0; /* let the client close his connection himself */
 		/* frontend is stopping, reload likely in progress, let's try
 		 * to announce a graceful shutdown if not yet done. We don't
 		 * care if it fails, it will be tried again later.
diff --git a/src/proxy.c b/src/proxy.c
index ba32f9419..8b2299ce0 100644
--- a/src/proxy.c
+++ b/src/proxy.c
@@ -2087,6 +2087,16 @@ static int proxy_parse_close_spread_time(char **args, int section_type, struct p
 		memprintf(err, "'%s' expects <time> as argument.\n", args[0]);
 		return -1;
 	}
+
+	/* If close-spread-time is set to "infinite", disable the active connection
+	 * closing during soft-stop.
+	 */
+	if (strcmp(args[1], "infinite") == 0) {
+		global.tune.options |= GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE;
+		global.close_spread_time = TICK_ETERNITY;
+		return 0;
+	}
+
 	res = parse_time_err(args[1], &global.close_spread_time, TIME_UNIT_MS);
 	if (res == PARSE_TIME_OVER) {
 		memprintf(err, "timer overflow in argument '%s' to '%s' (maximum value is 2147483647 ms or ~24.8 days)",
@@ -2102,6 +2112,8 @@ static int proxy_parse_close_spread_time(char **args, int section_type, struct p
 		memprintf(err, "unexpected character '%c' in argument to <%s>.\n", *res, args[0]);
 		return -1;
 	}
+	global.tune.options &= ~GTUNE_DISABLE_ACTIVE_CLOSE;
+
 	return 0;
 }