A fuel injection system which includes an injection valve for a self-igniting internal combustion engine with direct fuel injection, in particular for liquefied gas fuels, and which is configured as a pintle-type nozzle opening against the force of at least one spring, has the opening force of its fuel needle directly provided by the magnetic force of a solenoid so as to create simplified rate shaping. The magnetic force increases quadratically with the needle lift vis-a-vis the force of the spring increasing linearly with the needle lift, resulting in an opening velocity of the needle increasing approximately quadratically, at least in certain regions, thus permitting small pintle lifts, and the needle has a maximum needle lift of smaller than 1 mm, i.e., preferably smaller than 0.5 mm.