Burnley received a bye in the preliminary round of the competition and were drawn against French club Stade de Reims in the first round. Reims were the 1959–60 French Division 1 champions, and were runners-up in the European Cup in 1956 and 1959. The Reims team mainly revolved around striker Just Fontaine and playmaker Raymond Kopa; Fontaine had scored a record 13 goals during the 1958 FIFA World Cup and Kopa had been awarded the 1958 Ballon d'Or, an annual award given to the best European footballer. The first leg was played at Turf Moor and was won 2–0: Jimmy Robson scored in the first minute and McIlroy netted a second in the 22nd minute. The return leg, two weeks later at Parc des Princes, Paris, ended in a 3–2 loss. Robson put Burnley ahead in the 33rd minute but Reims scored two in the second half via Roger Piantoni and Bruno Rodzik. John Connelly equalised after he dribbled past several Reims players to score, only for Rodzik to net his second a minute later. During the game, Potts ran on the pitch to put the ball back to its correct place during a Reims free-kick, having become exasperated by their constant attempts to steal a few yards, after which he was taken off the field by the police. Despite the loss and crowd disturbances during the match, Burnley won 4–3 on aggregate and qualified for the quarter-final.