diff --git a/apis/v1/grpcroute_types.go b/apis/v1/grpcroute_types.go
index 953ba0243b..e1d4f25af9 100644
--- a/apis/v1/grpcroute_types.go
+++ b/apis/v1/grpcroute_types.go
@@ -210,7 +210,7 @@ type GRPCRouteRule struct {
 	// the above criteria.
 	//
 	// +optional
-	// +kubebuilder:validation:MaxItems=8
+	// +kubebuilder:validation:MaxItems=64
 	Matches []GRPCRouteMatch `json:"matches,omitempty"`
 
 	// Filters define the filters that are applied to requests that match
diff --git a/config/crd/experimental/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml b/config/crd/experimental/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
index ad9944737e..6de3d06b5b 100644
--- a/config/crd/experimental/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/experimental/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
@@ -1805,7 +1805,7 @@ spec:
                                 has(self.method) ? self.method.matches(r"""^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z_0-9]*$"""):
                                 true'
                         type: object
-                      maxItems: 8
+                      maxItems: 64
                       type: array
                     name:
                       description: |-
diff --git a/config/crd/standard/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml b/config/crd/standard/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
index 1cd8c79bf6..763bf83ec9 100644
--- a/config/crd/standard/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
+++ b/config/crd/standard/gateway.networking.k8s.io_grpcroutes.yaml
@@ -1678,7 +1678,7 @@ spec:
                                 has(self.method) ? self.method.matches(r"""^[A-Za-z_][A-Za-z_0-9]*$"""):
                                 true'
                         type: object
-                      maxItems: 8
+                      maxItems: 64
                       type: array
                   type: object
                 maxItems: 16
diff --git a/pkg/test/cel/grpcroute_test.go b/pkg/test/cel/grpcroute_test.go
index 366e91c1ed..628de66ae9 100644
--- a/pkg/test/cel/grpcroute_test.go
+++ b/pkg/test/cel/grpcroute_test.go
@@ -282,7 +282,67 @@ func TestGRPCRouteRule(t *testing.T) {
 				},
 			},
 		},
-	}
+		{
+			name:       "too many matches and rules",
+			wantErrors: []string{"total number of matches across all rules in a route must be less than 128"},
+			rules: func() []gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule {
+				match := gatewayv1.GRPCRouteMatch{
+					Headers: []gatewayv1.GRPCHeaderMatch{
+						{
+							Type:  ptrTo(gatewayv1.GRPCHeaderMatchExact),
+							Name:  "version",
+							Value: "v1",
+						},
+					},
+					Method: &gatewayv1.GRPCMethodMatch{
+						Type:    ptrTo(gatewayv1.GRPCMethodMatchExact),
+						Service: ptrTo("foo"),
+						Method:  ptrTo("bar"),
+					},
+				}
+
+				var rules []gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule
+				for i := 0; i < 7; i++ { // Create 7 rules
+					rule := gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule{}
+					for j := 0; j < 20; j++ { // Each rule has 20 matches
+						rule.Matches = append(rule.Matches, match)
+					}
+					rules = append(rules, rule)
+				}
+				return rules
+			}(),
+		},
+		{
+			name:       "many matches and few rules",
+			wantErrors: nil,
+			rules: func() []gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule {
+				match := gatewayv1.GRPCRouteMatch{
+					Headers: []gatewayv1.GRPCHeaderMatch{
+						{
+							Type:  ptrTo(gatewayv1.GRPCHeaderMatchExact),
+							Name:  "version",
+							Value: "v1",
+						},
+					},
+					Method: &gatewayv1.GRPCMethodMatch{
+						Type:    ptrTo(gatewayv1.GRPCMethodMatchExact),
+						Service: ptrTo("foo"),
+						Method:  ptrTo("bar"),
+					},
+				}
+
+				var rules []gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule
+				for i := 0; i < 2; i++ { // Create 2 rules
+					rule := gatewayv1.GRPCRouteRule{}
+					for j := 0; j < 48; j++ { // Each rule has 48 matches
+						rule.Matches = append(rule.Matches, match)
+					}
+					rules = append(rules, rule)
+				}
+				return rules
+			}(),
+		}}
+
 	for _, tc := range tests {
 		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
 			route := &gatewayv1.GRPCRoute{