(Reuters) - David Pemsel has informed the Premier League that he will not take up the role of chief executive next year following "media disclosures", the league said on Friday.
Pemsel, the CEO of Guardian Media Group (GMG), was set to succeed Richard Scudamore in February after his appointment was approved at a shareholders' meeting in October.
British media reported that the Premier League was under pressure to look into allegations about Pemsel's private life that came to light in the media earlier this week before he submitted his resignation.
"Following media disclosures earlier this week and discussions with David Pemsel, the Premier League has today accepted David's resignation and he will no longer be joining as Chief Executive," the Premier League said in a statement https://www.premierleague.com/news/1507575.
The league said interim chief executive Richard Masters, who was set to take up the Managing Director role, will now continue in the chief executive role and that they would not be making any further comments at this stage.
Pemsel is not the first candidate to turn down the offer, with Susanna Dinnage, the global president for Animal Planet at media organisation Discovery Inc, named as a replacement in November last year before she changed her mind a month later.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)