A method is provided for ordering retransmissions in a Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) system using N×M antennas. A transmitter splits a coded data stream into N sub-packets, and transmits the N sub-packets to a receiver via N transmission antennas. The receiver removes interferences of the N sub-packets received via M reception antennas, and independently decodes the interference-removed sub-packets. The receiver transmits an acknowledgement (ACK) or a negative acknowledgement (NACK) to the transmitter based on errors included in the decoded sub-packets. Upon receipt of the NACK, the transmitter retransmits to the receiver a sub-packet retransmission using ordering based on an Alamouti space-time coding scheme.