diff --git a/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/ConnectionPool/HTTPConnectionPool.swift b/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/ConnectionPool/HTTPConnectionPool.swift
index 3eb18ef35..d825171ea 100644
--- a/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/ConnectionPool/HTTPConnectionPool.swift
+++ b/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/ConnectionPool/HTTPConnectionPool.swift
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ final class HTTPConnectionPool {
         self._state = StateMachine(
             eventLoopGroup: eventLoopGroup,
             idGenerator: idGenerator,
-            maximumConcurrentHTTP1Connections: 8
+            maximumConcurrentHTTP1Connections: clientConfiguration.connectionPool.concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit
         )
     }
 
diff --git a/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/HTTPClient.swift b/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/HTTPClient.swift
index 3f81e5b74..0edac6b16 100644
--- a/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/HTTPClient.swift
+++ b/Sources/AsyncHTTPClient/HTTPClient.swift
@@ -849,11 +849,21 @@ extension HTTPClient.Configuration {
 
     /// Connection pool configuration.
     public struct ConnectionPool: Hashable {
-        // Specifies amount of time connections are kept idle in the pool.
+        /// Specifies amount of time connections are kept idle in the pool. After this time has passed without a new
+        /// request the connections are closed.
         public var idleTimeout: TimeAmount
 
+        /// The maximum number of connections that are kept alive in the connection pool per host. If requests with
+        /// an explicit eventLoopRequirement are sent, this number might be exceeded due to overflow connections.
+        public var concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit: Int
+
         public init(idleTimeout: TimeAmount = .seconds(60)) {
+            self.init(idleTimeout: idleTimeout, concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit: 8)
+        }
+
+        public init(idleTimeout: TimeAmount, concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit: Int) {
             self.idleTimeout = idleTimeout
+            self.concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit = concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests+XCTest.swift b/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests+XCTest.swift
index 98bfb0b54..2ab8856bf 100644
--- a/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests+XCTest.swift
+++ b/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests+XCTest.swift
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ extension HTTPClientTests {
             ("testCloseWhileBackpressureIsExertedIsFine", testCloseWhileBackpressureIsExertedIsFine),
             ("testErrorAfterCloseWhileBackpressureExerted", testErrorAfterCloseWhileBackpressureExerted),
             ("testRequestSpecificTLS", testRequestSpecificTLS),
+            ("testConnectionPoolSizeConfigValueIsRespected", testConnectionPoolSizeConfigValueIsRespected),
         ]
     }
 }
diff --git a/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests.swift b/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests.swift
index 5cdc2ada1..3311ffba7 100644
--- a/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests.swift
+++ b/Tests/AsyncHTTPClientTests/HTTPClientTests.swift
@@ -3060,4 +3060,47 @@ class HTTPClientTests: XCTestCase {
         XCTAssertEqual(firstConnectionNumber, secondConnectionNumber, "Identical TLS configurations did not use the same connection")
         XCTAssertNotEqual(thirdConnectionNumber, firstConnectionNumber, "Different TLS configurations did not use different connections.")
     }
+
+    func testConnectionPoolSizeConfigValueIsRespected() {
+        let numberOfRequestsPerThread = 1000
+        let numberOfParallelWorkers = 16
+        let poolSize = 12
+
+        let httpBin = HTTPBin()
+        defer { XCTAssertNoThrow(try httpBin.shutdown()) }
+
+        let group = MultiThreadedEventLoopGroup(numberOfThreads: 4)
+        defer { XCTAssertNoThrow(try group.syncShutdownGracefully()) }
+
+        let configuration = HTTPClient.Configuration(
+            connectionPool: .init(
+                idleTimeout: .seconds(30),
+                concurrentHTTP1ConnectionsPerHostSoftLimit: poolSize
+            )
+        )
+        let client = HTTPClient(eventLoopGroupProvider: .shared(group), configuration: configuration)
+        defer { XCTAssertNoThrow(try client.syncShutdown()) }
+
+        let g = DispatchGroup()
+        for workerID in 0..<numberOfParallelWorkers {
+            DispatchQueue(label: "\(#file):\(#line):worker-\(workerID)").async(group: g) {
+                func makeRequest() {
+                    let url = "http://127.0.0.1:\(httpBin.port)"
+                    XCTAssertNoThrow(try client.get(url: url).wait())
+                }
+                for _ in 0..<numberOfRequestsPerThread {
+                    makeRequest()
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        let timeout = DispatchTime.now() + .seconds(60)
+        switch g.wait(timeout: timeout) {
+        case .success:
+            break
+        case .timedOut:
+            XCTFail("Timed out")
+        }
+
+        XCTAssertEqual(httpBin.createdConnections, poolSize)
+    }
 }