diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/RouterListener.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/RouterListener.php
index 5d5a5436d3..be43a72dd2 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/RouterListener.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/EventListener/RouterListener.php
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ use Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\Exception\NotFoundHttpException;
 use Symfony\Component\Routing\Exception\MethodNotAllowedException;
 use Symfony\Component\Routing\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException;
 use Symfony\Component\Routing\Matcher\UrlMatcherInterface;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\Matcher\RequestMatcherInterface;
 use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;
 
 /**
@@ -29,12 +30,16 @@ use Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\EventSubscriberInterface;
  */
 class RouterListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
 {
-    private $urlMatcher;
+    private $matcher;
     private $logger;
 
-    public function __construct(UrlMatcherInterface $urlMatcher, LoggerInterface $logger = null)
+    public function __construct($matcher, LoggerInterface $logger = null)
     {
-        $this->urlMatcher = $urlMatcher;
+        if (!$matcher instanceof UrlMatcherInterface && !$matcher instanceof RequestMatcherInterface) {
+            throw new \InvalidArgumentException('Matcher must either implement UrlMatcherInterface or RequestMatcherInterface.');
+        }
+
+        $this->matcher = $matcher;
         $this->logger = $logger;
     }
 
@@ -43,7 +48,7 @@ class RouterListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
         $request = $event->getRequest();
 
         if (HttpKernelInterface::MASTER_REQUEST === $event->getRequestType()) {
-            $this->urlMatcher->getContext()->fromRequest($request);
+            $this->matcher->getContext()->fromRequest($request);
         }
 
         if ($request->attributes->has('_controller')) {
@@ -53,7 +58,12 @@ class RouterListener implements EventSubscriberInterface
 
         // add attributes based on the path info (routing)
         try {
-            $parameters = $this->urlMatcher->match($request->getPathInfo());
+            // matching requests is more powerful than matching URLs only, so try that first
+            if ($this->matcher instanceof RequestMatcherInterface) {
+                $parameters = $this->matcher->matchRequest($request);
+            } else {
+                $parameters = $this->matcher->match($request->getPathInfo());
+            }
 
             if (null !== $this->logger) {
                 $this->logger->info(sprintf('Matched route "%s" (parameters: %s)', $parameters['_route'], $this->parametersToString($parameters)));
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/Tests/EventListener/RouterListenerTest.php b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/Tests/EventListener/RouterListenerTest.php
index c33b33dc56..9ac028c652 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/Tests/EventListener/RouterListenerTest.php
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/HttpKernel/Tests/EventListener/RouterListenerTest.php
@@ -77,4 +77,33 @@ class RouterListenerTest extends \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase
 
         return new GetResponseEvent($kernel, $request, HttpKernelInterface::MASTER_REQUEST);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @expectedException \InvalidArgumentException
+     */
+    public function testInvalidMatcher()
+    {
+        new RouterListener(new \stdClass());
+    }
+
+    public function testRequestMatcher()
+    {
+        $kernel = $this->getMock('Symfony\Component\HttpKernel\HttpKernelInterface');
+        $request = Request::create('http://localhost/');
+        $event = new GetResponseEvent($kernel, $request, HttpKernelInterface::MASTER_REQUEST);
+
+        $context = new RequestContext();
+
+        $requestMatcher = $this->getMock('Symfony\Component\Routing\Matcher\RequestMatcherInterface');
+        $requestMatcher->expects($this->any())
+                       ->method('getContext')
+                       ->will($this->returnValue($context));
+        $requestMatcher->expects($this->once())
+                       ->method('matchRequest')
+                       ->with($this->isInstanceOf('Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request'))
+                       ->will($this->returnValue(array()));
+
+        $listener = new RouterListener($requestMatcher);
+        $listener->onKernelRequest($event);
+    }
 }
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/CHANGELOG.md b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/CHANGELOG.md
index 306708b088..40d6ab1c01 100644
--- a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ CHANGELOG
 2.1.0
 -----
 
+ * added RequestMatcherInterface
  * added RequestContext::fromRequest()
  * the UrlMatcher does not throw a \LogicException anymore when the required
    scheme is not the current one
diff --git a/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Matcher/RequestMatcherInterface.php b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Matcher/RequestMatcherInterface.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6a5c235ac0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Symfony/Component/Routing/Matcher/RequestMatcherInterface.php
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+<?php
+
+/*
+ * This file is part of the Symfony package.
+ *
+ * (c) Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ *
+ * For the full copyright and license information, please view the LICENSE
+ * file that was distributed with this source code.
+ */
+
+namespace Symfony\Component\Routing\Matcher;
+
+use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\RequestContextAwareInterface;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\Exception\ResourceNotFoundException;
+use Symfony\Component\Routing\Exception\MethodNotAllowedException;
+
+/**
+ * UrlMatcherInterface is the interface that all URL matcher classes must implement.
+ *
+ * @author Fabien Potencier <fabien@symfony.com>
+ */
+interface RequestMatcherInterface extends RequestContextAwareInterface
+{
+    /**
+     * Tries to match a request with a set of routes.
+     *
+     * If the matcher can not find information, it must throw one of the exceptions documented
+     * below.
+     *
+     * @param Request $request The request to match
+     *
+     * @return array An array of parameters
+     *
+     * @throws ResourceNotFoundException If no matching resource could be found
+     * @throws MethodNotAllowedException If a matching resource was found but the request method is not allowed
+     */
+    function matchRequest(Request $request);
+}