Extended reality (XR) technologies present new opportunities to measure sports performance in immersive, controlled environments. We assessed the construct and face validity of a 360-video simulation for capturing visual exploratory activity (VEA) in women’s soccer. Eleven sub-elite soccer players (22 ±5 years) and eleven novices (20 ± 2 years) participated. VEA was measured as the number of ‘scans’ away from the ball before a teammate passed to the 360-video camera. Participants viewed 40 soccer videos in a head-mounted display. Construct and face validity were supported where soccer players (Mdn = 0.31 scans/s) displayed significantly higher median scan frequencies than novices (Mdn = 0.06 scans/s, p = 0.001). We subsequently investigated the effect of pitch location and sided game on VEA in 360-video. Sixteen sub-elite players (21 ± 4 years) participated, with 32 videos analysed per player. A 2×2 repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant main effect of pitch location (p = 0.018), with higher scan frequencies in defensive (0.31 ± 0.15 scans/s) than attacking midfield (0.29 ± 0.16 scans/s), with no other significant effects. 360-video provides a valid tool for analysing VEA in women’s soccer, supporting future research into testing and training VEA.