La Trobe University will also assist in the development of a full education suite with the club over the coming years.

It is claimed this will be achieved through a sports development institute to be located at Ikon Park, Carlton’s Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) home.

Carlton and La Trobe established their partnership in 2016 with a mutual commitment to enhance education and community outcomes in Melbourne’s north.

La Trobe students will continue to benefit from exclusive work placements across the club.  

The renewed partnership will see increased student experiences from the number of internships, research and game-day opportunities, as well as access to Carlton’s specialist facilities.

The club will also bring their presence to the new La Trobe Sports Park, with their Victorian Women's Football League (VFLW) and AFLW teams scheduled to train there in 2019.

During the coming months, both Carlton and La Trobe University intend to work to establish the sports development institute, where young students will be given greater opportunity to study a range of diploma-level sports qualifications with a pathway to enrol into the University’s degree courses upon successful completion.

Executive education opportunities will also be explored.

Given the growth of the existing two-year partnership, the La Trobe University logo will also now adorn Carlton's players' match-day and training shorts across the next five years, positioning them alongside global brands Virgin Australia and Hyundai on the navy blue kit.

Carlton chief executive Cain Liddle said the expanded partnership would pave the way for game-changing collaborations between the organisations, with a particular shared commitment and emphasis on Melbourne’s northern corridor.

"La Trobe University is Australia's University of choice for sport and is committed to making a substantial contribution to the sustainability of the Australian sport industry," he added.

"We are therefore delighted to expand our strong mutually-beneficial partnership.

"We are particularly excited about the establishment of the sports development institute across the coming months and we soon look forward to taking expressions of interests from students across the state for this innovative initiative.

"Partnering with La Trobe in the development of an elite-sport education programme in the heart of Melbourne’s education precinct provides us with scaleable, non-traditional business opportunities that are perfectly aligned to our core purpose as a sporting club."

Professor John Dewar, La Trobe’s vice-chancellor, said the University had been working with Carlton for many years and this announcement was a natural next step.

"We are really looking forward to working even more closely with Carlton, in what is a significant partnership for the club and the University," he added.

"Our students will continue to have exclusive access to internship opportunities.

"Our research students will work alongside staff across all aspects of the club, students and staff will benefit from unique behind the scenes opportunities and our international students will experience our unique sporting culture at game-day experiences.

"In addition, the presence of AFLW and VFLW teams on our Melbourne campus will further build the reputation of the city’s northern suburbs as a destination for elite sports."