Blackburn Rovers players will wear the name of the Prince’s Trust charity on their shirts this season, the Lancashire Telegraph can reveal.

The club has announced the unique partnership for the 2011-12 Premier League campaign, replacing its last deal with Crown Paints.

The deal will see Rovers donate the branding space on their football kit to the national charity, instead of selling it to a new sponsor.

Rovers will be the second Premier League side in history to have a charity as their main shirt sponsor – and the only team currently in England’s top flight.

The club’s three-year deal with Crown Paints, which was agreed with the Darwen business in March 2008, guaranteed Rovers £5million.

It was thought Rovers owners Venky’s India Ltd would seek a new lucrative deal with a major Indian firm, in line with their aim to raise the profile of the club in Asia.

And the Venky’s logo was used on shirts worn in the recent Barclays Asia Trophy matches in Hong Kong.

However, the club said it had decided “to reject some commercial sponsorship offers in order to grasp the special partnership opportunity”.

The Prince’s Trust has strong links to East Lancashire working with hundreds of youngsters particularly in Blackburn and Burnley on employment and training schemes.

Balaji Rao, Venky’s managing director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to be able to support The Prince's Trust in such a visible way, particularly at this challenging time for young people in terms of unemployment and limited opportunities.

“Helping young people is very much at the forefront of our community work in India and this partnership is a perfect way for us to support charities and worthy causes through football over here.”

Rovers, which has a history of running Prince’s Trust programmes for disadvantaged young people in the area, has also committed to fundraising for the charity throughout the coming season.

Simon Williams, Blackburn Rovers head of commercial and marketing, said: “The club has enjoyed a strong and productive relationship with The Prince’s Trust since 2005 and this agreement takes that relationship onto another level.

“The exposure The Prince’s Trust will obtain as our shirt partner will greatly increase the level of awareness for the charity and hopefully encourage fundraising for the fantastic work they do to with young people.”

The Prince’s Trust, through its partnership with the Premier League and Professional Footballers’ Association, has helped more than 15,000 young people through football since 1997.

It has worked with more than 60 Premier League and Football League clubs to deliver programmes that have helped three in four young people into work, training or education.

It is hoped that money raised through the Charity of the Year partnership will help provide more Prince’s Trust programmes in Blackburn over the coming year.

Ann-Marie Hawthorn, acting secretary of Blackburn Rovers Disabled Supporters Club, said she thought fans would be happy with the decision and proud of the club for signing this type of deal.

She said: “I’m all for it. We’re backing a charity that does a lot of work locally, and because last time it was Crown Paints, a local business, we’re keeping things local in a sense.”

Paul Brown, marketing director of The Prince’s Trust, said: “The Prince’s Trust is really pleased to have been selected as Blackburn Rovers’ Charity of the Year, in a move which will build on our considerable experience of working with young people through football.

“We see this as a brilliant opportunity to reach out, engage and motivate the most disadvantaged young people in the community and help us change even more young lives.”

Rovers will follow in the footsteps of Aston Villa, who teamed up with the Acorns Children's Hospice Trust in 2008, wearing the charity’s logo for two years.

The move also echoes Spanish giants Barcelona, who shirts bore the Unicef crest from 2006 to 2011, breaking a 106-year tradition of no sponsor appearing on their kit.