diff --git a/autotest/gcore/vsicurl.py b/autotest/gcore/vsicurl.py
index 2bc0f2f2b4b4..9e46b2af9a24 100755
--- a/autotest/gcore/vsicurl.py
+++ b/autotest/gcore/vsicurl.py
@@ -1609,3 +1609,27 @@ def test_vsicurl_VSICURL_QUERY_STRING(server, filename, query_string):
             assert statres.size == 3
         finally:
             gdal.SetPathSpecificOption(full_filename, "VSICURL_QUERY_STRING", None)
+
+
+###############################################################################
+# Test /vsicurl?header:foo=bar&
+
+
+@gdaltest.enable_exceptions()
+def test_vsicurl_header_option(server):
+
+    gdal.VSICurlClearCache()
+
+    handler = webserver.SequentialHandler()
+    handler.add(
+        "HEAD",
+        "/test_vsicurl_header_option.bin",
+        200,
+        {"Content-Length": "3"},
+        expected_headers={"foo": "bar", "Accept": "application/json"},
+    )
+
+    with webserver.install_http_handler(handler):
+        full_filename = f"/vsicurl?header.foo=bar&header.Accept=application%2Fjson&url=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%3A{server.port}%2Ftest_vsicurl_header_option.bin"
+        statres = gdal.VSIStatL(full_filename)
+        assert statres.size == 3
diff --git a/doc/source/user/virtual_file_systems.rst b/doc/source/user/virtual_file_systems.rst
index 1b1eb0526dd2..ddacadfc5b0c 100644
--- a/doc/source/user/virtual_file_systems.rst
+++ b/doc/source/user/virtual_file_systems.rst
@@ -387,6 +387,7 @@ Starting with GDAL 2.3, options can be passed in the filename with the following
 - referer=value: HTTP Referer header
 - cookie=value: HTTP Cookie header
 - header_file=value: Filename that contains one or several "Header: Value" lines
+- header.<key>=<value>: HTTP request header of name <key> and value <value>. (GDAL >= 3.11). e.g. ``header.Accept=application%2Fjson``
 - unsafessl=yes/no
 - low_speed_time=value
 - low_speed_limit=value
diff --git a/port/cpl_vsil_curl.cpp b/port/cpl_vsil_curl.cpp
index e259b4078aa0..9ea17cabf2c0 100644
--- a/port/cpl_vsil_curl.cpp
+++ b/port/cpl_vsil_curl.cpp
@@ -352,6 +352,7 @@ static std::string VSICurlGetURLFromFilename(
         }
 
         std::string osURL;
+        std::string osHeaders;
         for (int i = 0; papszTokens[i]; i++)
         {
             char *pszKey = nullptr;
@@ -433,6 +434,13 @@ static std::string VSICurlGetURLFromFilename(
                         *ppszPlanetaryComputerCollection = CPLStrdup(pszValue);
                     }
                 }
+                else if (STARTS_WITH(pszKey, "header."))
+                {
+                    osHeaders += (pszKey + strlen("header."));
+                    osHeaders += ':';
+                    osHeaders += pszValue;
+                    osHeaders += "\r\n";
+                }
                 else
                 {
                     CPLError(CE_Warning, CPLE_NotSupported,
@@ -442,6 +450,9 @@ static std::string VSICurlGetURLFromFilename(
             CPLFree(pszKey);
         }
 
+        if (paosHTTPOptions && !osHeaders.empty())
+            paosHTTPOptions->SetNameValue("HEADERS", osHeaders.c_str());
+
         CSLDestroy(papszTokens);
         if (osURL.empty())
         {