diff --git a/docs/changelog.md b/docs/changelog.md
index c8b8261e6..dff5a882c 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.md
+++ b/docs/changelog.md
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ Each revision is versioned by the date of the revision.
 - docs: Updated the home page to implement the new pattern for the "In this documentation" section.
 - docs: Reorganized two tutorials to how-to section; expanded the upgrade guide
 
+## 2026-04-21
+
+- Do not render the default backend if there are no other backends in in the haproxy-route-tcp.
+
 ## 2026-04-17
 
 - Added missing settings from haproxy-route-tcp relation template.
diff --git a/docs/release-notes/artifacts/pr0476.yaml b/docs/release-notes/artifacts/pr0476.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bcb22900d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/release-notes/artifacts/pr0476.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+version_schema: 2
+changes:
+  - title: Do not render the default backend if there are no other backends
+    author: skatsaounis
+    type: bugfix
+    description: >
+      Do not render the default backend if there are no other backends in the
+      haproxy-route-tcp relation template, to avoid rendering unused
+      configuration.
+    urls:
+      pr:
+        - https://github.com/canonical/haproxy-operator/pull/476
+    visibility: public
+    highlight: false
diff --git a/haproxy-operator/templates/haproxy_route_tcp.cfg.j2 b/haproxy-operator/templates/haproxy_route_tcp.cfg.j2
index 3fa3e4919..65a48823d 100644
--- a/haproxy-operator/templates/haproxy_route_tcp.cfg.j2
+++ b/haproxy-operator/templates/haproxy_route_tcp.cfg.j2
@@ -101,8 +101,8 @@ backend {{ frontend.default_backend_name }}
 {% endfor %}
 {% endif %}
 
-{# Render each backend for the frontend. #}
-{% for backend in frontend.backends %}
+{# Render each backend for the frontend. Skip rendering if there's only the default backend. #}
+{% for backend in frontend.backends if frontend.backends|length > 1 %}
 backend {{ backend.name }}
     mode tcp
 {% if backend.dst_port_translation %}