The league was formed after the split of the Santiago Island League into the north and south zones in 2002 and the two are the youngest island leagues in Cape Verde, it featured clubs only from the municipality of Praia, Ribeira Grande de Santiago split in 2005 and featured from two parts up to 2010, clubs from São Domingos switched from the North to the South Zone in 2010, Garridos first played during the 2013–14 season.

The Premier Division risen to twelve clubs started from the 2015–16 season and is the current number today.

The championship has the most clubs in the country with the exception of the 2015–16 and the 2016–17 seasons which were second, shared with the island's North Zone.

The number of seasons that each team (in alphabetical order) has played in the Premier Division from 1999 to 2017.

The teams in Bold participating in the 2017-18 Santiago South Premier Division: