diff --git a/doc/conf.py b/doc/conf.py
index 331abb4f21f1..91e79ea488bf 100644
--- a/doc/conf.py
+++ b/doc/conf.py
@@ -315,6 +315,11 @@ def gallery_image_warning_filter(record):
 except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, FileNotFoundError):
     SHA = matplotlib.__version__
 
+
+html_context = {
+    "doc_version": SHA,
+}
+
 project = 'Matplotlib'
 copyright = (
     '2002–2012 John Hunter, Darren Dale, Eric Firing, Michael Droettboom '
@@ -449,6 +454,7 @@ def js_tag_with_cache_busting(js):
              "image_dark": "images/logo_dark.svg"},
     "navbar_end": ["theme-switcher", "version-switcher", "mpl_icon_links"],
     "secondary_sidebar_items": "page-toc.html",
+     "footer_items": ["copyright", "sphinx-version", "doc_version"],
 }
 include_analytics = is_release_build
 if include_analytics:
diff --git a/requirements/doc/doc-requirements.txt b/requirements/doc/doc-requirements.txt
index 899ca254edab..5b21c338782c 100644
--- a/requirements/doc/doc-requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements/doc/doc-requirements.txt
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ ipywidgets
 numpydoc>=1.0
 packaging>=20
 pydata-sphinx-theme>=0.12.0
-mpl-sphinx-theme
+mpl-sphinx-theme>=3.7.0
 pyyaml
 sphinxcontrib-svg2pdfconverter>=1.1.0
 sphinx-gallery>=0.10