Sports star probed for girlfriend hoax

American football star Manti Te’o is facing questions over whether he was really duped by a bizarre lie about a fake dead girlfriend.

The linebacker, who plays for the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, played a leading role in a crunch game just days after his girlfriend supposedly died from leukaemia.

Now, Te’o and the university are both facing questions over whether they were complicit in a hoax to mislead the public, perhaps to improve his chances of winning an award for the sport’s best player.