diff --git a/CTFd/config.ini b/CTFd/config.ini
index 7398219d..1df2f997 100644
--- a/CTFd/config.ini
+++ b/CTFd/config.ini
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ UPDATE_CHECK =
 APPLICATION_ROOT =
 SERVER_SENT_EVENTS =
 SQLALCHEMY_MAX_OVERFLOW =
+SQLALCHEMY_POOL_PRE_PING =
 
 [oauth]
 OAUTH_CLIENT_ID =
diff --git a/CTFd/config.py b/CTFd/config.py
index b21423b9..962e6e67 100644
--- a/CTFd/config.py
+++ b/CTFd/config.py
@@ -340,6 +340,9 @@ class Config(object):
             "max_overflow": int(os.getenv("SQLALCHEMY_MAX_OVERFLOW", 0))
                 or int(empty_str_cast(config_ini["optional"]["SQLALCHEMY_MAX_OVERFLOW"], default=0))  # noqa: E131
                 or 20,  # noqa: E131
+            "pool_pre_ping": process_boolean_str(os.getenv("SQLALCHEMY_POOL_PRE_PING"))
+                or empty_str_cast(config_ini["optional"]["SQLALCHEMY_POOL_PRE_PING"])  # noqa: E131
+                or True,  # noqa: E131
         }
 
     """