diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 2d06b11f25..3b02732caa 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -2646,6 +2646,12 @@ submodule.<name>.ignore::
 	"--ignore-submodules" option. The 'git submodule' commands are not
 	affected by this setting.
 
+submodule.fetchJobs::
+	Specifies how many submodules are fetched/cloned at the same time.
+	A positive integer allows up to that number of submodules fetched
+	in parallel. A value of 0 will give some reasonable default.
+	If unset, it defaults to 1.
+
 tag.sort::
 	This variable controls the sort ordering of tags when displayed by
 	linkgit:git-tag[1]. Without the "--sort=<value>" option provided, the
diff --git a/builtin/fetch.c b/builtin/fetch.c
index 586840d761..5aa1c2de44 100644
--- a/builtin/fetch.c
+++ b/builtin/fetch.c
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ static int prune = -1; /* unspecified */
 static int all, append, dry_run, force, keep, multiple, update_head_ok, verbosity;
 static int progress = -1, recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_DEFAULT;
 static int tags = TAGS_DEFAULT, unshallow, update_shallow;
-static int max_children = 1;
+static int max_children = -1;
 static const char *depth;
 static const char *upload_pack;
 static struct strbuf default_rla = STRBUF_INIT;
diff --git a/submodule.c b/submodule.c
index c3a1300a52..4bd14de42c 100644
--- a/submodule.c
+++ b/submodule.c
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 #include "thread-utils.h"
 
 static int config_fetch_recurse_submodules = RECURSE_SUBMODULES_ON_DEMAND;
+static int parallel_jobs = 1;
 static struct string_list changed_submodule_paths;
 static int initialized_fetch_ref_tips;
 static struct sha1_array ref_tips_before_fetch;
@@ -169,7 +170,12 @@ void set_diffopt_flags_from_submodule_config(struct diff_options *diffopt,
 
 int submodule_config(const char *var, const char *value, void *cb)
 {
-	if (starts_with(var, "submodule."))
+	if (!strcmp(var, "submodule.fetchjobs")) {
+		parallel_jobs = git_config_int(var, value);
+		if (parallel_jobs < 0)
+			die(_("negative values not allowed for submodule.fetchJobs"));
+		return 0;
+	} else if (starts_with(var, "submodule."))
 		return parse_submodule_config_option(var, value);
 	else if (!strcmp(var, "fetch.recursesubmodules")) {
 		config_fetch_recurse_submodules = parse_fetch_recurse_submodules_arg(var, value);
@@ -771,6 +777,9 @@ int fetch_populated_submodules(const struct argv_array *options,
 	argv_array_push(&spf.args, "--recurse-submodules-default");
 	/* default value, "--submodule-prefix" and its value are added later */
 
+	if (max_parallel_jobs < 0)
+		max_parallel_jobs = parallel_jobs;
+
 	calculate_changed_submodule_paths();
 	run_processes_parallel(max_parallel_jobs,
 			       get_next_submodule,
@@ -1117,3 +1126,8 @@ void connect_work_tree_and_git_dir(const char *work_tree, const char *git_dir)
 	strbuf_release(&rel_path);
 	free((void *)real_work_tree);
 }
+
+int parallel_submodules(void)
+{
+	return parallel_jobs;
+}
diff --git a/submodule.h b/submodule.h
index 3464500629..3166608fb5 100644
--- a/submodule.h
+++ b/submodule.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ struct submodule_update_strategy {
 	enum submodule_update_type type;
 	const char *command;
 };
+#define SUBMODULE_UPDATE_STRATEGY_INIT {SM_UPDATE_UNSPECIFIED, NULL}
 
 int is_staging_gitmodules_ok(void);
 int update_path_in_gitmodules(const char *oldpath, const char *newpath);
@@ -57,5 +58,6 @@ int find_unpushed_submodules(unsigned char new_sha1[20], const char *remotes_nam
 		struct string_list *needs_pushing);
 int push_unpushed_submodules(unsigned char new_sha1[20], const char *remotes_name);
 void connect_work_tree_and_git_dir(const char *work_tree, const char *git_dir);
+int parallel_submodules(void);
 
 #endif
diff --git a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
index 1241146227..954d0e43f5 100755
--- a/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
+++ b/t/t5526-fetch-submodules.sh
@@ -471,4 +471,18 @@ test_expect_success "don't fetch submodule when newly recorded commits are alrea
 	test_i18ncmp expect.err actual.err
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'fetching submodules respects parallel settings' '
+	git config fetch.recurseSubmodules true &&
+	(
+		cd downstream &&
+		GIT_TRACE=$(pwd)/trace.out git fetch --jobs 7 &&
+		grep "7 tasks" trace.out &&
+		git config submodule.fetchJobs 8 &&
+		GIT_TRACE=$(pwd)/trace.out git fetch &&
+		grep "8 tasks" trace.out &&
+		GIT_TRACE=$(pwd)/trace.out git fetch --jobs 9 &&
+		grep "9 tasks" trace.out
+	)
+'
+
 test_done